Annual Physical Exam Narrative 2018

This morning, I went for an annual physical check up. Compared to last year, we were sort of confident that we will all be able to handle this one on our own time and schedule because the clinic is just across the office building.

Being pre-occupied with many things recently, I failed to fill out the form that needs to be filled before coming to the check-up schedule, but I thought it won’t be a hassle because they would still need to verify my answers and most likely they have translation manuals to cross reference the questions to and since I can speak the minimal conversational Japanese, I know that I will be able to make my thoughts come across to the best of my ability.

Upon checking in with the receptionist, I told her that I speak very little Japanese, but I did read my name loud enough for her in katakana as she pointed them out, but I wrote my address on the paper in romaji, which was then verified by the other nurse and wrote the kanji equivalent on top.

All throughout the process, beneath my patient data record is another folder of translation of the processes and the instructions for the series of tests that I will need to go through this annual physical check up package.

I did get confused where to go after dropping my urine sample, but the nurse was kind enough to call me back and lead me through the next ones to which I was able to complete.

BMI, eye check up, blood pressure, waistline measurement, blood extraction, hearing test, x-ray and then the physical exam with the doctor.

It took more or less 1.5 hour for the whole process, just because there were also other patients and I did get a bit held onto the hearing test and the x-ray exams.

At the end of it all, I felt proud of myself and grateful for the staff for being so patient with me and our struggles to meet halfway, and I felt proud to say that it was a struggle, but they all did their best to meet my expectations. Way beyond, I could imagine.

One thing so real about this Japanese culture is the solidarity and oneness and the quality of service and that delightful facial expression they are able to show you while dutifully fulfilling their tasks.

Then later tonight at the end of the shift, my manager asked me if I were able to speak Japanese and read my name in the clinic. I bit puzzling. I told her that all went well and then she told me that she received a call from the clinic asking that, tomorrow, a Japanese employee should accompany my other foreign co-worker because I wasn’t able to communicate well and they also had a hard time communicating with me, claiming that I wasn’t able to even speak my name.

I was really thinking of writing about this experience tonight because I would like to think of it as one of my success stories in my first few years in Japan, also hospitals horrify me. So, this one is a good story to take note of.

A few things come to light as I go back to the experience…

It is just so amazing how they can completely cover up the panic that they felt when they realize that I cannot really speak Japanese. They were all so calm and just really trying to do their task. Well, except for the radiologist who happened to call the other nurse just to ask me if I were pregnant. He has able to perfectly read the English instructions in the manual as he gave me the instructions on how to do the x-ray. That means, he can communicate but the sense of panic shaded his opportunity to confidently connect with me as a normal patient. Gestures would have done the trick, plus it wasn’t my first time to have undergone an x-ray. The hearing test was a bit of a personal challenge for me indeed. The translated instructions were a bit unclear, that they had me re-take the test to which I was able to get the logic on how the machine works through their gestures and demonstrations of the process. On the physical exam, the doctor started the conversation with her apologizing for being unable to speak English but then she asked me a complete medical question in English to which I replied which she understood and then we went over the test with her standard questions and gestures bout turning my back, my clothes, lying my back on the bed then getting up and sitting down again and then telling me that they tests were finished and that I can just hand in the papers to a person at the reception.

I wonder if it were just lack of confidence or just mere resistance to the language that causes the difficulty in communicating with non-Japanese speaking persons. Because, clearly, they can speak the other language, they just seem not wanting to put the effort to do so. Why isn’t there so much effort being put into it? Just more questions popping up as I try to find answers to my questions. The answers might be rooted from different aspects: of culture, opportunity to use the language, motivation to learn another language, the teaching and transfer skills the learners are exposed to, and many more that will take me ages to figure out.

Reading more and more about the inevitable aspects of globalization, the lack of understanding of some who can never speak another language except Japanese/English, the lack of compassion and that power struggles on both ends of the rope, I just don’t know where to start on being part of the solution.

For the meantime, I am writing this experience as a reminder that there is so much to learn from this culture of calmness, solidarity and how things are organized, but they also have a lot to learn in terms of how to communicate with others, which ones to resist and those to embrace halfway, because clearly, they aren’t the only person in the world and as people start migrating from one place to another, I will not be the only non-Japanese person they will be getting in touch with, and that the next choice of language will be English, everywhere, anywhere.