Job Discussion Forums

[shuize]

I'm no big fan of socialized medicine. But let me see if I can help translate:


Nickelgoat: "No one spoke any English at all."

Translation: "I don't speak Japanese."


Nickelgoat: "They kept flashing a paper in my face that said I owed them some 7100 yen and I wasn't told what it was for."

Translation: "They told me what it was for but I could not understand them."


Nickelgoat: "After speaking with them the Japanese staff member at my school said she 'could not tell me' why I was being charged."

Translation: "She speaks English about as well as I speak Japanese."


Let's apply Occam's razor.

Theory #1: Japan is a police state and hospitals make up bills out of thin air to gouge foreign patients.

Theory #2: The hospital had a reason to charge Nickelgoat the 7,000 yen but he did not understand the explanation.

[nickelgoat]

.....

[fluffyhamster]

Heard of Cocam's razor? That's when you combine two theories so as to allow further argument ('Yes, but...').

[shuize]

[womblingfree]

[shuize]

[nickelgoat]

.....

[gaijinalways]

Hmm, nickelgoat, sorry you didn't enjoy your time here .

I find it odd that you went back to the hospital to have them sign insurance papers. Why would you have to go back unless it was for additional treatment, to pick up a report (or xray), or for additional consultation? I would think, yes, it depends on your insurance, and perhaps the hospital found out that they need to collect from you first, with your insurance reimbursing you later.

As to having an interpreter on hand at a hospital, it's not usual in Japan. Even at the International Women's Hospital in Shin Okubo, no one spoke English. Not so international .

As to producing an identity card, no it's not usual in most countries to have to sometimes produce it twice a week. I'm like most other posters, I have never been asked for it. It really depends on where you go, your mode of transport, and who with or where you hang out in Japan. Some of the clubs and gaijin houses seem to be magnets for this kind of 'harassment', where you are sometimes asked by the same police officer(s), who seems to have forgotten conveniently that you live nearby.

Of course, you can deal with it, but who wants to waste the time every time you head out dealing with it? Certainly not me, hence why I didn't buy a bike when I first came to Japan (seems to be the most common way to be stopped, by the way), and I somewhat hesitate to buy one (though I am pretty fast, long legs, so if I am conveniently deaf... ).

[c-way]

I'm not really trying to be part of the series of posters that should be ganging up on you, but I feel the need to point out the fact that most of us here are here soley on the premise that there are lots of people that are trying to learn languages.

[shuize]

[J.]

I agree with Shuize's post about the lack of understanding being the main problem BUT it seems that Nicklegoat had a few bad experiences in a row, which if we are honest and they happened to us, might just turn us against Japan, at least for the short term. First he was beaten up by somebody and then his hospital visit went awry. I think he is entitled to feel a bit victimized, especially when people at the hospital became rude and threatening when he couldn't understand the procedure. I do think people who are here for the long term should make some attempt to learn the language BUT doesn't a hospital have some responsibility, at least moral, to organize somebody they could have on call for translations when necessary? There are enough people studying English here that it shouldn't be that hard; it seems that they just can't be bothered to set anything up.

I empathize with Nicklegoat because I have been really frustrated in the past at some situations, mostly involving bureaucracy that I didn't understand. Hey, it's hard enough to follow its twisty curves even in your own language. I think these things tend to occur less often as you become used to the way things work here, and I would tell Nicklegoat to consider that he might at some point give Japan another chance, but if he doesn't want to that's his perogative, and I don't think it's fair to call him a "crybaby".

[G Cthulhu]

[womblingfree]

[gaijinalways]

[Sweetsee]

When I think police state, I think California, my former home state; more people incarcerated there than in all of Europe. I remember police parked out front of the parking garage next to the club we used to go to in my hometown, following you until you made a mistake or they got fed up waiting. And when they finally did pull you over, you had a snowball's chance in hell of continuing on your way--drunk or not. Here the bicycle, there the car.
My poor brother has spent his entire adult life behind bars there, locked into the system, wouldn't hurt a fly. That, and I recently heard that my childhood friend will never be free--3-strikes victim.
Land of the free...right.
Don't go away mad, just go away.
Enjoy,
s