How to read and understand your Japanese health check report

If you’ve lived in Japan for a while now, in one way or another you have most likely come across the annual health check the once-a-year reality check that — despite often being the bearer of bad news — makes things a tad more complicated by having way too many kanji. Typically organized by your company, Japan’s health check practice is a brilliant system in place, making sure that all employees are being regularly advised not to put on extra weight, smoke and drink less, and consume more vegetables in addition to, of course, exercise regularly and have less stress.

For the lucky few usually working in foreign companies, the report will include at least a brief English translation. For the rest of us, however, we can feel our blood pressure rise as we wonder what those little lines of kanji comments are trying to tell us about the health of our hearts and lungs. To help you navigate your health check results without the need to reveal your darkest secrets to your Japanese colleagues while desperately trying to figure out what that C or D on your report means, here is a guide to some of the key phrases you will find in every health check report in Japan.

While every clinic has its own template, the one above is an example of a typical health check report. If you do the health check at the same clinic every year, your report will also include results from previous years next to your current results, so that you can clearly see how much weight you’ve gained (or lost) and how your health looks like altogether in comparison to a year ago.