The two numbers that matter
Memorize two numbers. **110** is the police — for crimes, theft, accidents, or anything threatening. **119** is fire AND ambulance — for fires, injuries, sudden illness. Both are free from any phone, including a hotel landline or a SIM-less phone connected to Wi-Fi calling, and both run 24/7.
Don't panic about the language barrier. When the operator answers, just say slowly: "English, please." Major cities route you to an interpreter, and 119 supports interpretation in many languages around the clock through a translation center (the exact list varies by municipality, but English is essentially always covered). Speak clearly, give your location (read out the nearest address, intersection, or a landmark/convenience-store name), and stay on the line.
For non-emergencies — you're sick but it's not urgent, you're lost, you need advice — there's the JNTO Japan Visitor Hotline at **050-3816-2787**, 24/7, with English (plus Chinese and Korean) support. Save it in your phone now.
- Your hotel front desk is an excellent first call for anything non-life-threatening — they'll phone on your behalf and translate.
- If you can't speak, a working trick: open a maps app, get your location pin, and show it to whoever's helping.
The koban: your neighborhood help desk
You'll see small police boxes — **交番 (kōban)** — on street corners, near stations, and in busy districts. Think of them less as a police station and more as a manned help desk. The officers inside spend a huge amount of their day giving directions, reuniting people with lost wallets, and helping confused visitors.
Walk right in. It's completely normal and welcome. "Sumimasen" (excuse me) to get attention, then point at your map, show an address, or explain your problem as simply as you can. They keep detailed neighborhood maps and will happily orient you. This is the single best move when you're lost and your phone is dead or useless.
- A koban is the right place to report a lost or stolen item and get a report number — useful for travel insurance claims.
- No appointment, no fee, no judgment. They've seen far more lost tourists than you.
Lost something? Don't despair
Japan's lost-and-found culture is real and it's remarkable. If you leave a bag on a train, a phone in a café, or a wallet on a bench, there's a genuinely good chance it comes back to you.
**Lost on a train or in a station:** go to any station staff window and explain — they'll check with the line's lost-property center. Note the line, the approximate time, and the train direction if you can. Items often get logged and held within hours.
**Lost on the street or in a shop:** ask the nearest koban or the shop staff. Found items are routinely handed in to police. Bring ID when you go to collect.
It won't always work — but it works often enough that it's always worth asking. Don't assume it's gone.
- Knowing the train line + roughly what time you got off massively speeds up the search.
- For high-value items, file at a koban so there's a paper trail for insurance.
Minor illness: head to a drugstore
For everyday problems — a cold, headache, sore throat, upset stomach, cuts, motion sickness, allergies — you don't need a doctor. Go to a **ドラッグストア (doraggu sutoa)**, a drugstore. They're everywhere (Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Welcia, Sundrug are common chains) and many stay open late.
The catch: **brand names are different**, so you can't just look for the Norwegian equivalent. The reliable move is to find the pharmacy counter and describe the problem. Pointing at the body part works perfectly — hold your stomach, your head, your throat. Show a phrase, or type into a translation app. The staff are used to it.
A few orientation points: painkillers like ibuprofen and acetaminophen (paracetamol) exist but under local brands; ロキソニン (Loxonin) is a very common strong painkiller. Stomach remedies and cold medicines are plentiful. If you take prescription meds, bring your own supply — some common Western drugs (including certain cold/allergy meds with pseudoephedrine, and some ADHD meds) are restricted or banned in Japan, so check before you fly.
- Don't assume a medication legal at home is legal in Japan — verify restricted-drug rules before packing.
- Don't expect English on packaging; rely on the pharmacist.
- Pharmacist > guessing. Describe symptoms, don't hunt for a familiar box.
- Bring enough of any prescription meds for the whole trip, in original packaging, with a copy of the prescription.
Clinics vs hospitals — which to go to
For anything beyond a drugstore: a **clinic (クリニック / 医院)** is the right first stop for non-emergencies — fevers that won't quit, infections, minor injuries. They're smaller, faster, and cheaper than a hospital, though hours are often limited (many close midday and on weekends).
A **hospital (病院, byōin)** is for serious or urgent cases, or when a clinic refers you on. For a true emergency, you don't choose — call 119 and the ambulance takes you to an appropriate facility.
Finding an English-speaking doctor: the JNTO hotline (050-3816-2787) and the JNTO website both have searchable medical-institution guides for visitors. Your hotel and embassy can also point you to foreigner-friendly clinics in Tokyo.
Expect to pay at the time of treatment. Bring your passport and your insurance details. Costs are reasonable by Western standards but you'll likely pay up front and claim back later.
- Clinic first for the non-urgent; 119 for the genuinely urgent — don't overthink which hospital.
- Tokyo has several well-known international/English-speaking clinics; ask your hotel to recommend one nearby.
Travel insurance: sort this before you fly
Get travel insurance that covers medical treatment and repatriation, and carry the policy number and the insurer's emergency line on your phone (and on paper). This is the one bit of admin that turns a scary situation into a manageable one.
In practice you'll usually pay the clinic or hospital directly, get an itemized receipt, and claim it back from your insurer afterward — so keep every receipt. For anything major, call your insurer's emergency assistance line early; they can guide you to approved facilities and sometimes arrange direct billing.
- Photograph your policy and emergency-assistance number; store offline.
- Keep every medical receipt — no receipt, no reimbursement.
Earthquakes: what to actually do
Japan has earthquakes. Most are small and brief, and the country is built and drilled for them. The instinct that gets people hurt is running. Don't.
When shaking starts: **drop, cover, hold on.** Get low, get under a sturdy table or desk, protect your head and neck with your arms, and hold on until it stops. **Do not run outside** — most injuries come from falling objects and the rush toward doors and stairwells, not from buildings collapsing. Indoors is generally safer than the chaos of an exit.
If you're in a shop, station, restaurant, or hotel, **follow the staff.** They're trained, they'll guide you, and they know the evacuation routes. If you're outdoors, move to open ground — away from buildings, walls, glass, utility poles, and trees.
After the shaking: stay alert for aftershocks, check official alerts (the Safety Tips app pushes them in English), and don't use elevators. If you're near the coast and feel a strong, long quake, head for higher ground — tsunami warnings follow fast.
- Drop, cover, hold on — and stay put until shaking stops.
- Protect your head; get under something solid.
- Follow staff instructions in any building or shop.
- Move to open ground if you're outside.
- Check the Safety Tips app for official alerts.
- Don't run outside during the shaking.
- Don't crowd doorways, stairwells, or elevators.
- Don't ignore a tsunami warning near the coast — go high, go fast.
- Don't light flames if you smell gas after a quake.
Drugstore vs pharmacy, and naming your symptom
For everyday remedies head to a ドラッグストア (doraggu sutoa, drugstore) — they stock cold, stomach, cough and pain medicine off the shelf; a 薬局 (yakkyoku) is really for filling prescriptions. Staff respond well to a named symptom plus the matching '-dome' (stopper) medicine: geri (diarrhea) → geridome, seki (cough) → sekidome. If you can't name it, 'onaka o kowashimashita' (upset stomach) and pointing at where it hurts get you most of the way.