THE NEWZ Vol.26　英語

17/22

Medical Tourism Policy With such rapid growth, medical tourism is emerging as a dynamic and potentially transformative sector. Considering the growing financial deficits in Japan’s healthcare system, I began to wonder: Could medical tourism be a solution? In this article, I’ll take a closer look at the landscape of medical tourism, focusing specifically on Japan and France—two countries with very different approaches but interesting potential. Additionally, the "Basic Plan for Promoting Japan as a Tourism Nation," approved by the Cabinet in 2023, emphasizes combining Japan's high-quality medical services with regional tourism offerings. Areas selected for this initiative will receive support for implementation. Other initiatives include promoting JCI (Joint Commission International) certification for international medical facilities and the creation of the JMIP (Certification System for Medical Institutions Accepting Foreign Patients). Have you ever heard of medical tourism?Medical tourism refers to the practice of traveling abroad to receive medical care (Nagaishi, 2015). Recently, I learned about this concept in one of my classes and was particularly intrigued by how medical services are becoming a major industry in several Southeast Asian countries. In fact, the global medical tourism market reached a value of 14 trillion yen in 2022, and it is projected to more than triple to 48 trillion yen by 2028 (Mediphon, 2024). Let’s begin by taking a look at the current state of medical tourism in Japan. While the global medical tourism industry is expanding rapidly, Japan has been notably slow to catch up. According to data from the Japan International Hospitals (JIH), only 4,069 foreign patients visited Japan in 2019 specifically for medical purposes. Astoundingly, that number is roughly equivalent to the number of international patients received in Bangkok in a single day. When it comes to Japan’s medical stay visa, the number of recipients declined sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the figures have recovered by 2022, the total for 2023 stood at just 2,295 cases which falls significantly short of expectations. On the other hand, consumption by visiting foreigners is increasing year by year, with a fivefold increase over the past decade. To catch up with this trend, the Japanese government has also begun efforts to tap into the rapidly growing medical tourism market. Introduced in 2011, the "medical visa" allows stays of up to six months, with the option to re-enter multiple times within three years. Registered travel agencies and medical coordinators provide guarantees for visitors, helping to select hospitals where patients can receive care with confidence. Midori PedersonNeoma Business School, Reims, France16 Introduction Medical Tourism in Japan and France