Environment World

It SNOWED today in Tokyo. Haven’t seen much snow in Japan and with the city effects I don’t recall seeing snow last year at all. It’s 1:30 p.m. and all I see is a little dusting on the roof tops not enough to make a snowman but it still snowed. Always reminds of my childhood and wishing for a snowday (school canceled because of snow).

I went to see John Q. last Saturday night (12/7), opening night in Japan. The story was pretty good. It doesn’t hold a candle to Training Day (not many movies do) but it brings to mind the problems with the American health care system (which was the point the movie was making). If the topic of American health care comes up in conversations with Japanese friends I tell them “if you have the money, it’s the best health care in the world.” Sad but true in my experience. I believe that many places will leapfrog American medicine because of a lag in research.

This perceived lag could be attributed to the present right wing administration’s mentality that limits the use stem cells in research. Places like Singapore are on the cutting edge of stem cells research and if they haven’t already, they will pass American medicine soon. Japan is not very far behind in that regards also. Another point to make about Japan; like the US it has top notch medical care for people with the money to afford it but unlike the US it has good medical care if you don’t have the money. Japan has a socialized health care system, if you have a job you must pay into medical insurance. My last (present?) employer uses a foreign insurer, BUPA. I may have mentioned it before that I live with MS (Multiple Sclerosis), BUPA has a long list of illnesses they won’t cover and MS is on that list. The Japanese insurance system doesn’t have a list, if you pay you’re entitled and pre-existing condition don’t mean squat. In my previous job in Kyoto I used Japanese health care so I have a little first hand experience with Japanese insurance. I’m not going to sing on the mountain tops about Japanese hospitals but they’re there for the people. A lot more than I’m willing to say about American hospitals.