What job options are there for a foreign doctor?
 

Hi all, I'm sure a lot of questions get asked about work in japan, and that a lot have most likely been answered somewhere on the net already, however vie yet to find much info about my topic.

I'm currently working as a doctor here in Australia having completed medical school last year, and am at the stage where making a career choice to specialise means signing the next 8-10 years of my life away. I have long been contemplating working outside of the traditional clinical role most doctors have in dealing with patients, and am actually open to any form of work that is somewhat enjoyable with good work life balance,

I'm wondering what fields of work, or specific jobs there might be for someone like me in japan. The teaching route is the most obvious one, just wondering if there are any other choices out there?

I do have quite a bit of experience in teaching, although mostly medically related, and quite good experience in sales both through part time work, and
Small business ventures in the past.

Any and all advice would be appreciated, as I'm starting to think about where I want to be next year. I do realize that working as a doctor in japan is out of the question, and notmsomething im all that interested in, unless there were some specialized niche.

Many thanks all!

Daniel

You forgot to tell us the most important thing. How good is your Japanese?

If it's at a near-native level, you'd be valuable as a medical translator or interpreter. Otherwise, the chances are that you'll be making 1/10ths of a doctors salary teaching English at a Eikaiwa.

Stay in AUS and make that money. You've already spent a great deal of time studying/working as a doctor, and you'll be throwing that down the toilet to teach conversational English.
Save your sick days and take some nice vacations to Japan.

But just for kicks, what makes you want to throw away what you've done to come to Japan?

My conversational Japanese is at quite a minimum, I spent a month there two years ago on an elective.

I'd by no means be throwing away what I've done, it's more like a break from it all for a while. After this year if I jump into the rat race that is trying to specialise, I'll likely be working in clinical medicine for the next 7 years, and although it may seem like a natural progression to just specialise, I think there are other things in the world I can enjoy before diving into that.

It's more just the chance to get away for a year and try something new. Being equivalent on salary isn't that important this early in my career, as we don't earn big bucks yet anyway. As long as I could live somewhere overseas for a year, and say I enjoyed myself and grew, it'd be a nice thing.

So other than teaching English there won't be much for me to do. I'll look into research as a possibility then.

Thanks guys, and please keep the tips and advice coming.

If you're into skiing at all then you could look at spending a season up at one of the ski resorts. You would be working from late Nov through to around early April and could possible organise some work to take you through summer. I've been working at the Niseko ski area in Hokkaido for the past 5 years and it's a pretty amazing life up here. Beats teaching english I reckon! :D

I am jealous. Being a snowboard instructor in Japan would be my dream job.

there are actually talks within the ministries to create a special visa category for foreign doctors and give them the right to work in the health sector. now, having said this, there is still not a draft bill and there are still many many quirks to work out. but maybe maybe that would be something for you.

There are multiple opportunities for shorter term internships at Japanese hospitals... Mainly through the Red Cross from what I know.

There was always a foreign doctor or two milling around with a translator in the NICU and ICU when I was there.

As for money, I haven`t the slightest idea about whether they were making any at all.

Not that it would matter to the Japanese (although it should), I feel much more comfortable with a native English speaking doctor. Although I have been to see Japanese doctors, including in emergency situations, and understood them fine in Japanese, it is definitely is not something I would prefer.

On a related thing, I absolutely refuse to go to a dentist that does not speak fluent English, and I do mean fluent (idioms and all, regardless of national origin). I pay out of pocket when returning to the states for all routine dental work. It's worth it to me because I am terrified of dentists, have been since I was a child, and the ONLY thing that keeps me calm is a dentist explaining exactly what he or she is doing in minute detail as he or she is doing it. This is simply beyond even "reasonably communicative" Japanese dentists.

No, it shouldn't. I'm tired of reading your complaints.

I've never received medical treatment in Japanese in your country. Why should you receive it in English in mine?

Thanks for all the inputs guys. I guess part of working in Japan would be to get out of the clinical work im doing here, for a year or so anyway. Something like doing research, or teaching medical english at medical school or nursing school, being a health advisor for a company or firm that is mainly expatriate's etc.

I guess it is obvious that it's not a large market out there for this niche that im looking to fill, so i'll just continue to search and see if I can find something that suits.

A research scholarship via the Japanese government seems promising to do postgraduate studies, but it appears I have missed the application deadline for next year.

Working in the Ski fields sounds great, but unfortunately I'm contracted to work here until early January.

If anyone has other ideas or suggestions would love to hear them!

I have had just about enough of your aspersions on my character, sir.

For all the negativity you accuse others of, I have not once seen you acknowledge that Japan is 1) increasingly a legitimate destination for immigrants or 2) a country with its own set of issues and problems, many of which can be worse for those that choose to immigrate. And I was expressing a preference anyhow, not mandating some sort of legal requirement. You seem incapable of seeing the difference between the two.

I'm not even sure why you would make a comment such as you did. For one thing, English is not the official language of the United States of America. We have no official language. And if we did, it wouldn't have been English. As surprising as you might find this, it would have been German (in a vote, None came in first, German came in second, English came in third).

Second, most communities in America try awfully hard to provide resources for major minority languages in those communities. In Texas, it will be Spanish, in Vermont it will be French. In various cities, you will even find Korean or Vietnamese. In certain places, it will even be Japanese. In communities where a major minority language exists, there will be medical personnel, at least nurses, probably even a few doctors that speak that language.

And thirdly, have you ever received medical care at all in the United States? Any one of the States? And have you searched for a Japanese speaking doctor? Because I assure you that doctors of Japanese descent who speak Japanese are not that rare, especially in certain areas of certain States. Dallas, Texas, as an example, has a significant Japanese population, has Japanese schools, and publishes an area newspaper in Japanese. In places like California or New York, you search would be even easier.

You seem to believe all foreigners are "temporary guests" who should not express any opinions, political, cultural, or otherwise for fear that we might upset your tender sensibilities. I'm afraid that the increasing number of immigrants to Japan, the falling birthrate, and the aging population all lead to a country that must accept immigration for survival.

This is the last time I will engage your peanut gallery commentary.