Japan hospitals expand multilingual care as foreign patients rise

Osaka leads on services for international clients with 24-hour interpretation

20191107 Interpreter for foreign patients

A medical interpreter helps a Colombian patient communicate with her doctor at Rinku General Medical Center in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. (Photo by Tomoki Mera)

KEIKO MARUYAMA, Nikkei staff writer

November 15, 2019 15:04 JST

OSAKA -- Henry Tanaka, a Colombian of Japanese descent, has been living and working in Japan for 20 years but has never become fluent in the local language. Hospital visits were always a challenge as he did not quite understand what the doctors were telling him.