Introduction

Japan, through its world-class medical system and national health insurance program, provides high-caliber healthcare services nationwide.

We now believe that, in addition to providing services as part of our social security system at home, we can make a global contribution by extending some of these services to the rest of the world, thus opening up new potential for positive growth in healthcare. In this belief, we have now launched the Medical Excellence JAPAN Project. As an important cornerstone of this Project, we have created a website introducing medical institutions that have expressed an interest in accepting overseas patients on a trial basis. At the same time, we have created a system of “one-stop” acceptance support. The aim of this is to reassure overseas patients who wish to visit the medical institutions in the website and receive medical care in Japan. Other aspects of the Project include training high-level international healthcare interpreters (including translators) and supporting links between Japanese and overseas medical institutions.

Until now, few Japanese medical institutions have had much experience of accepting patients from overseas, while hardly anything has been known about Japanese healthcare abroad. We hope this website will trigger positive matches between Japanese healthcare services and patients’ needs. By facilitating stronger links between healthcare professionals and patients, and the pharmaceutical, medical equipment, and various other healthcare fields, we hope that medical care in Japan and the rest of the world will grow to new heights, ultimately helping us to build a better society.

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan