A number of hospitals and travel agencies have started promoting medical tourism to cater to a growing demand overseas for the thorough physical examinations and advanced medical treatment perceived as available here.
The move, which also ties into efforts to boost sightseeing in Japan, is backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, which has set a target of more than tripling the annual number of foreign visitors to Japan by 2030, partly by encouraging new types of tourism.
Li, a Chinese woman in her 70s who goes by one name, is one of the latest customers in this fledgling market. She underwent a one-day medical checkup that featured a cutting-edge PET (positron emission tomography) scan to detect early-stage cancer at Nishidai Clinic Diagnostic Imaging Center in Tokyo.