With reference to the Oct. 11 letter "Same access as Japanese citizens": I have no comment about the national health insurance issue, since my insurance is basically equivalent as long as it covers a comparable risk. What I find very annoying, however, is the tone used by the anonymous writer and a typical phrase that I often find in the letters' section: If you don't like something as is, "go home."
This is a very closed approach. All foreigners may not think the same way, but we are taught to be critical, to make distinctions and to argue when something is not as we think it should be. I believe Japanese culture needs more of this "alien" approach, and the writer should be grateful that we foreigners stay here despite often silly and improper rules.
Almost everywhere in the world foreign health insurance is accepted, and major hospitals can issue invoices and clinical details in English. Although I am fluent in Japanese, I believe it is about time that Japan joined the international community. It should not only target the benefits of doing so.