Medical Checkup (2005-01-25)
I received an application for a free health examination in the mail last month. It's one of the government's ways of taking care of the people who have reached a certain age (translation: old). I thought it'd be a good idea to check my blood pressure, so I turned in the application.
I was provided with a choice of over 200 clinics in my surrounding
suburbs to have my examination and I picked a nice big one near our
apartment to get it done last Friday. Once inside the clinic, two
receptionists greeted me warmly and registered my name. After
that I was led by a nurse to see my doctor almost immediately. My
doctor tried to speak English with me to make sure I understood
him. It wasn't just vital signs I was getting done, they took
blood from me,
tested my urine and wanted stool samples which I had to submit at a
later date, and gave me a chest x-ray and
ECG. A total of four nurses took care of me during the course of
the checkup. Everyone was so nice to me I felt guilty
not having had to pay for the service.
It's a pretty generous thing the Japanese government is doing for
its people, especially foreigners. For someone who is not a
permanent resident and doesn't have an income to pay income taxes, I scored a nice free ride
at the clinic, hee hee.
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