Summa Cum Laude

We are now Doctors! (2019)

Summary: This pages shows how a foreign doctor can be a doctor in Japan. A foreign doctor is defined as a medical doctor who graduate a medical school outside Japan AND obtained a medical license there. Roughly speaking, you have to pass three steps: document review, practical exam in Japanese language and written exam in Japanese. Then you will be licensed as a medical doctor in Japan.

Given that you already have a medical license from somewhere outside of Japan, you may have a qualification to take JP-MLE for you to become a doctor in Japan. I took this procedure and this is from my experience, so that it is highly reliable as of 2019. I will describe the detail of the procedure. As a summary, You have to clear the 3 steps;

1. document review for examination quolification, (free of charge)
2. practical exams in Japanese, (free of charge)
3. the written exam, JP-MLE (15,300 yen)

As you may imagine to become a doctor, Each step is very formal, examined by the Ministry of Labor, Welfare and Health(MLWH) of Japan. The whole process is, from my experience, not easy, time-consuming, but it is not impossible.

1. Why is it good to become a doctor in Japan?
   • a good sallary. eg. annual 80,000USD is possible if you work in suburban area, from the 1st year as a resident. 100,000USD/year is possible from the 2nd year resident.
   • easy to get a position if you passed the exam, JP-MLE; we have a matching system like in the US, but there are many hospitals which do not full-match, meaning there are vacancies.
   • Interesting culture.
2. Who am I?
   • Study medicine abroad and obtained EU medical license.
   • passed JP-MLE and received JP medical license.
   • Practicing medicine in Japan.
3. How to become a doctor in Japan in general.

You can become a doctor if you study medicine in university in Japan, which is very competitive. But 90% of medical students can become a doctor in Japan, once you enter a medical school in Japan. It can be said that you are almost a doctor when you passed an entrance exam of a medical school. Note that it is very expensive if you go to a private school. Medical study is tough, but it is very attractive if it is 90% guranteed. This way is out of scope in this document.

In this document, I am explaining about a different way; Become a doctor in Japan, after a medical license from overseas, like you.

• Regular way

  You have to pass the exam, JP-MLE.

• Iregular way, exceptional and it is outside of scope of this document.

  I have met a doctor from Hawaii Univerisity. He works as a doctor in Japan, without passing JP-MLE. There is, however, a big restriction; He can examine only people who does not have the official health insurance of Japan. Note we have system of "health insurance for everybody", thus there are quite limited number of patients without JP health insurance, eg. many foreigners and some Japanese of exception. It seems admitted by MLWH of Japan but it seems not open to everybody.

4. the Screening Process.
Qualification of JP-MLE This is the page of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan, written in Japanese.
1. Document Review

You need to collect many formal documents. Required Documents are listed above, in the link.

• Easy documents: just-fill-in.
  1. Application Form: Download from above.
  2. Curriculum Vitae: Form download avove.
  3. a copy of your Passport.
  4. Result of Medical Checkup
  5. Photo x3
  6. Certificate of Japanese language Examination: Level N1, if you did not complete elementary and junior high-school (12 years) in Japan. You don't need one if you finish them in Japan. The exam is easy if you finish them in Japan, anyway.
• Kind of Difficult documents, which you need to prepare,
  1. Medical License
  2. Graduate Certificate
  3. Carriculum of your medical school.
  the purpose of this document is to clarify the hours of your study. Your study must have more than 4,500 hours if it is 6 years program, or 5,500 hours if it is 5 years.

These 3 documents are much harder than you expect, because

• first, Original documents should be "endorsed" by an official body (eg. the Embassy of your country.)
• second, the documents should be translated into Japanese.
• third, the tranlsated documents should be done the same, "endorsement".

Endorsement is the point; the official body certifies the documents are genuine. Official documents per se are not enough.

• The deadline is the end of July.
• You have to go to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Wealth for an application. You can send them NEITHER by Email NOR by post. You must be in Tokyo, Japan.
• Result will be sent in a month or so. you will be invited to Practical Exam, if your application cleared the requirements.
• It is free of charge, amazingly.

I have samples of required documents from my own experience. Please let me know from the bottom of this page if you are intereted. Note: My service is NOT free of charge.

If you have not cleared the formal requirements for JP-MLE, you may be allowed to take pre-JPMLE. See below for the details of the test.

2. Practical Exams in Japanese.

You will have a practical exam, which is held completely in Japanese. It will be held in Tokyo. It was actually held in the end of september, neither in October nor in November, as written in the official link above.

It is, so called, OSCE plus alpha. You have to visit 3 stations. Your mission is medical interview, physical examinations and make a medical records.

There are 5 points, according to the official site:

1. Listening skill: whether you can understand what your patients or your medical colleagues say.
2. Speaking Skill: whether you can speak and explain about your examinations to patients or medical colleagues.
3. Writing Skill: whether you can make a proper medical record in Japanese.
4. Reading Skill: whether you can read, understand and pronounce Japanese medical terms.
5. Examing Skill: whether you can examine patients while making a proper explanation to patients, and whether you can explain your findings to your colleagues.
You are supposed to have more than 60 points out of 100.

Amazingly it is also free of charge. Ministry of Health, wealth and Labor of Japan does not charge you for this exam, compared to the USMLE-CS which costs +1,000 USD.

I have some past questions from my own experience. Please let me know from the bottom of this web page if you are intereted. Note: My service is NOT free of charge.

3. Pre-JPMLE

   What if you failed the practical exam? You can not take JP-MLE. But you are allowed to take pre-JPMLE, which has bad pass rate than JP-MLE, say 30%, compared to 90% for JP-MLE.

   Not only that, you have to join a medical practice for 1 year after you passed pre-JPMLE if you could pass the pre-exam.

   The point is, the documents review and the practical exam above are very important to avoid the harder pre-exam and to save a year.

   I was exempted from this exam, thus I really don't know what it is like from my own experience. I recommend doing your best to get an exemption from this exam.

5. JP-MLE, the written exam.

Now you are qualified to take JP-MLE by passing the practical exam or passing the pre-exam and 1-year practice.

The exam will be held in February around 8 and 9. It takes 2 days. (it was 3 days long until 2018.) The result will be open in a month.

Pass rate is 90%. It means the bottom 10% fails. Don't underestimate it. Many students take the exam after prepairing well. There are many good preparation materials. Please let me know from the bottom of this page if you are interested. in them.

Past questions are all open to applicants. Thus there are good question banks available. Actually everybody uses to pass the exam. Also there are couple of companies (like Kaplan for USMLE) which releases a series of good lectures. Please let me know if you are interested these study materials.

1. Oligatory Questions: you have >80% to pass. (absolute number).
2. Other Questions: the border to pass is relative to set letting 90% of candidate pass.
1. General Questions: 1 point / Question.
2. Clinical Questions: 3 points / Question.

Points for the applicants:

1. 90% pass. only 10% fail.
2. You are supposed to review past exam questions, otherwise you do not pass the exam practically. Actullay people say that do what others do, then you will pass. Problem is you don't know what other people do, if you study medicine abroad.
6. Matching

There is a matching system in Japan like in the US.

1. You have to apply for it. (in June.)
2. You have to take exam at the hospitals you wish to work at.
3. You register hospitals with an order by October.
4. The hospital register the candidates according to their exam.
5. Match results will reveal in the middle of October.

If you missed any of them, don't worry. There are still many vacancies, which means there are many hospitals which do not full-match. You can apply for such hospitals by yourself.

Contact: If you would like to contact with me, please fill your e-mail address below. I will contact back with you very soon. Thank you! :-)