Okay, you may think Japan has good medicine. Their schools are supposed to be good, they’re a modern country with lots of Science and Technology and Stuff. Unfortunately, maybe that’s true if you’re Japanese, but I just spent the past two weeks experiencing treatment, and it was…um…sad.
I went to the first doctor on May 26th, and said I had an earache. He was supposed to be a generalist, but he said “I can’t look in your ears, but here’s an anti-biotic.” So I started the anti-biotic, and I felt a little better. Status: Severe ear pain, but little ringing
So by the end of weekend, the pain had gone, but the ear was ringing. So on Wednesday (May 31) of the next week, I went to see another doctor. Status: No pain, but ringing The second doctor was an american – he said “I don’t see anything wrong, but here’s some wax remover. By the way, the Japanese dosage is about 1/5th of the US dosage.”
Friday, June 2nd – still ringing, so I take off work and go see the ear, nose, and throat specialist. He says “Wakusu!”, or “Wax!” and he cleans out my ear. It’s still ringing. I go back to the first doctor and threaten him with bodily harm, because I am pretty sure that it is still infected and GOD DAMN IT I WANT AZITHROMYCIN. So he gives me that, and I go home. It rings the entire weekend, but it’s a little softer then.
Finally, on Monday, June 5th, I go to the Akasaka International Clinic. Why didn’t I go there in the first place, you may ask? I didn’t realize they took National Health Insurance – everyone kept telling me that “only Japanese doctors take NHI”. The doctor, Dr. Jerry, takes one look in my ear, says “It’s still infected,” gives me antibiotic and steroid eardrops, and within a few days the ringing almost disappeared.
So there you have it: Akasaka International Clinic, highly recommended. Japanese doctors, not so much.