JAPAN

Japanese pharmacies and drugmakers taking linguistic steps to better serve foreign clients

Haruka Hirose, a pharmacist at Nozomi pharmacy in Tokyo's Koto Ward, shows a point-and-speak conversation notebook she compiled for pharmacies to communicate with foreign customers. | KYODO

Kyodo

Oct 26, 2017

As the number of foreign visitors to Japan continues to rise, pharmacies and drugmakers are stepping up efforts to better serve customers who speak little Japanese.

As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics approaches, pharmacists, doctors and nurses feel a strong need to help foreign tourists and residents understand the medicines they are prescribed.

The number of foreign visitors to the country topped 10 million a year for the first time in 2013 and hit 24 million in 2016, according to government data.

Japanese pharmacies and drugmakers taking linguistic steps to better serve foreign clients

In your social network

In your inbox

In your social network

In your inbox