Value Village ／ Health
This answer is a draft. It stays unpublished until legal review and source verification are complete.
In Japan an annual health check (健康診断, kenkō shindan, often shortened to kenshin) is a normal part of life for company employees. Many countries have no culture of yearly check-ups, so visitors and foreign residents are often surprised when their employer books one for them. Here is how the system works and what your part in it is.
| Scheme | Who | Legal basis | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| General health check (regular check) | Regularly employed workers. Once a year | Industrial Safety and Health Act, Article 66 | Paid by the employer |
| Specific Health Check (特定健診, tokutei kenshin) | Health-insurance members aged 40–74 | Act on Assurance of Medical Care for Elderly People | Paid by the insurer (free to a small co-payment) |
| Cancer screening | Run by municipalities (stomach, lung, colorectal, breast, cervical) | Health Promotion Act | Free to a few thousand yen, depending on the municipality |
| Ningen dock (comprehensive private check-up) | Voluntary | — | Self-paid (subsidy schemes exist) |
[Verify] Check the uptake rate and the target against the latest fiscal year of the MHLW "Implementation Status of Specific Health Checks and Specific Health Guidance".
The purpose of the check is to spot changes before symptoms appear. Most lifestyle-related diseases have no noticeable symptoms in their early stages.
"Re-examination needed" (要再検査) and "detailed examination needed" (要精密検査) are instructions to go back and be examined again. Ignore them and the check was pointless. If you do not know where to go, ask the organisation that ran the check — that is the quickest route.
Many items (blood sugar, triglycerides) assume 10 hours or more of fasting. Drinking or overeating the night before distorts the results and is a common cause of re-examination.
The reference range is a statistical range derived from the distribution across many people. It is not an assurance of "no abnormality". The value of the check lies in watching the trend year by year.
Members of National Health Insurance (国民健康保険, kokumin kenkō hoken) are also eligible for the Specific Health Check from age 40. Your municipality posts you a voucher (受診券). Under 40, some municipalities and insurers run their own checks.
---
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/roudoukijun/anzen/anzeneisei03.html
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000173202_00013.html
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000059490.html
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
What we share here are ideas and everyday practices passed down among people living in Japan, together with general information drawn from public sources. They are not official recommendations, and they are not professional instruction. Practices vary between households and regions.
This is general information. Results vary from person to person and depend on your own conditions and surroundings.
Please decide for yourself, using your own judgement, whether any of this suits your situation. We cannot accept responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from following this article.
This article is not meant to diagnose or manage any specific medical condition. If you are worried about your health, see a doctor rather than relying on your own judgement.
Tell us if this has changed
Approved contributions keep the contributor's name, shown in five languages.
Other languages：日本語 ／ 简体中文 ／ 繁體中文 ／ 한국어
Value Village is not a government body. Always confirm procedures on the official site.
Written by Value Village from public sources. Nothing here is reproduced from another site.