Amid an increase in international visitors to Japan, one of the challenges is how medical institutes can handle those who get sick during staying Japan. According to Japan Tourism Agency’ survey in 2023, the percentage of international visitors who answered that they got sick or injured during traveling in Japan was 4% of the total. It is, however, true that medical institutes are much behind the treatment to foreign tourists because of language barriers or difference of the medical system.
Under the circumstance, M3 Career, medical human resource business provider, launched a new online medical treatment service ‘Hotel de DOCTOR 24’ in April 2025.
Challenges for medical institutes
Hotel de DOCTOR 24 is a medical treatment service to connect foreign tourists in sick with registered doctors, nurses and medical interpreters online 24 hours, 365 days. A patient can see a doctor and take a prescription by directly accessing the service through the QR code set in hotel rooms.
“It is not easy under the current medical system in Japan for medical institutes to arrange doctors and times for treatment to receive foreign tourists in sick,” Makoto Iwai, M# Career Business Development Group leader, said. According to the M3 Career’s survey, 47% of the targeting hospitals answered that it is difficult to see foreign tourists in sick.
The situation is server particularly in local regions in Japan. Iwai cited Takayama City, a popular tourist destination for foreign tourists, as an example. Last year, about 770,000 foreign tourists visited Takayama with a population of about 80,000, but Takayama just establishes a medical system for 80,000 citizens and does not have extra capacity enough to receive foreign tourists.
On the other hand, most of doctors in Japan have experienced treatments for foreigners before, and 58% of those said that they are interested in online treatment. Most of Japanese doctors work outside of their hospitals as part-time jobs, and many female doctors are temporarily away from work due to childbirth or childcare, so online work allows them to work on a spot basis.
It is, however, true that the usage rate of online treatment in Japan is around 15% only, much lower than the rates in other developed countries, mainly because of poor IT literacy of patients and lower medical rewards for online treatment than for usual treatment.
“Hotel de DOCTOR 24 is a good solution for foreigners who are accustomed to online treatment,” Iwai said, “In addition, It is expected to contribute to promote online treatment in Japan to reduce a variety of burdens in hospitals.” Approximately 3,000 doctors register in Hotel de DOCTOR 24.
（左から）ユニバーサルメディカルグループの西野杏実氏、事業開発グループリーダーの岩井氏、広報グループリーダーの椿山氏
Challenges for hotels
Hotels face challenges to handle international guests in sick, as the Japan Tourism Agency’s survey finds burdens on hotels in terms of interpretation, medical insurance or finding a hospital to treat foreigners. Iwai said, “In addition to the language barrier, it is extremely difficult or a hotel to determine whether a medical emergency is present..”
Pointing out how difficult for foreigners or hotels to find appropriate hospitals when a disaster occurs, Iwai said that Hotel de DOCTOR 24 has a huge merits for both foreign patients and hotels because the online system does not limit locations and times.
Hotel de DOCTOR 24 can be one of the hotel’s hospitality services. As of today, more than 150 hotels in 23 prefectures, including major hotel chains, such as Seibu Prince Hotels & Resorts or Tokyu Resorts & Stay, have introduced Hotel de DOCTOR 24.
Merits to patients
Foreign tourists’ anxieties about medical treatment in a different country are endless. Hotel de DOCTOR 24 offers an interpretation service in 22 different languages in partnership with a interpretation company. An Obvious merits are not to visit a doctor physically and not to wait for a long time. The treatment service fee is fixed at 55,000 yen a person.
Patients' symptoms often include cold symptoms and gastroenteritis, and there are particularly many requests to refill regular medications. In Japan, prescription medications require a consultation, so if prescriptions can be obtained through online consultations, the burden on travelers will be greatly reduced. To receive medication, the original prescription is sent to a pharmacy in the patient's area of choice, and the patient then takes a copy with them to pick up the medication. It is also possible to collect the medication at a pharmacy in their next destination.
Users are mostly travelers from U.S. Europe or Australia who stay in Japan longer. Some of the medical information is shared with the hotel in case a patient's condition worsens during their stay.
「Hotel de DOCTOR 24」 の仕組み（同社資料より）
Partnership with other touch points than hotels In the future
Hotel de DOCTOR 24 has more registered doctors than patients at this moment because of low awareness of the service just for six months since the service was launched. Iwai revealed that there are more 40s or older users than they expected.
One of the examples is that a user accessed Hotel de DOCTOR 24 on a cruise ship to request subscription of regular medications and then he could collect his medication at a pharmacy at a domestic port of call.
M3 Career expects to form partnerships with local governments that have challenges to receive foreign tourists in sick. Also,, they intend to expand Hotel de DOCTOR 24 touch points to airports, tourist information or even tour guides that are close to foreign tourists.
