{"id":38304,"date":"2015-08-14T13:21:28","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T17:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=38304"},"modified":"2015-09-29T12:58:55","modified_gmt":"2015-09-29T16:58:55","slug":"jets-in-academia-health-privacy-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/14\/jets-in-academia-health-privacy-in-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"JETs in Academia: Health Privacy in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nathaniel Simmons<\/a> (Nara-ken, 2007-2009)<\/strong>\u00a0is currently is currently a communication faculty member at Western Governors University and lives in Columbus, OH, USA.\u00a0 He teaches a variety of intercultural, interpersonal, and health communication courses. He has researched and published several scholarly articles regarding privacy management between foreign English teachers and Japanese co-workers in Japan.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSomething of and in Japan, [is that] it doesn\u2019t matter about who you are. Your health is never private.\u00a0 They [Japanese] don\u2019t see health as a privacy thing.\u00a0 So you know, if you want to keep it private, don\u2019t talk to anyone about it.\u201d<\/em> – Alice<\/p>\n

After having my own interesting health experiences in Japan<\/a>, I remained curious as to what other ALTs experienced.\u00a0 Therefore, I went back to Japan and interviewed 10 ALTs (5 women and 5 men) about their medical encounters.\u00a0 I quickly learned that it wasn’t “just me.”\u00a0 I heard a lot of strong comments such as Alice’s.\u00a0 In fact, everyone managed their medical privacy to some extent.\u00a0 I share one story below:<\/p>\n

“There were no barriers. Every person in the village, every school, you know everyone in the Board of Education, the whole school knew that I broke my leg and what days I was going to the hospital, and medication I\u2019ve been given.\u00a0 There\u2019s no quiet, patient confidentiality.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Meet “Jamie.”<\/p>\n

An ALT in rural Japan like most of the ALTs employed by ALT organizations.\u00a0 She loved her job, teachers, and students.\u00a0 She worked hard and was enthusiastic about English education.<\/p>\n

After breaking her leg, everyone knew.\u00a0 But how?\u00a0 She explained:<\/p>\n

“It starts off with the supervisor who tells the Board of Education, they then informed the schools, and well, the schools tell the teachers, and the students ask, they tell the students, the students tell the parents, the parents go to the restaurant down the road and tell them, and the whole village knows.”<\/em><\/p>\n

For Jamie, living in rural Japan meant that she wasn’t able to obtain her desired privacy levels.\u00a0 Suddenly, she was not just the “foreigner,” but the “foreigner with the broken leg.”\u00a0 She was the talk of the town.\u00a0 Even her prescribed medication wasn’t a secret.\u00a0 At the same time, Jamie was a “good sport.”\u00a0 She laughed about the spectacle of her situation.\u00a0 However, this somewhat uncomfortable experience influenced later health encounters.<\/p>\n

After having appendicitis, Jamie didn’t want to go to the hospital as her doctor suggested.\u00a0 She told her Board of Education (BOE) that she just needed to go home and “sleep it off.”\u00a0 However, her tale doesn’t end there.<\/p>\n

“I got a phone call from my Board of Education! [The] Doctor called the hospital when I didn\u2019t turn up.\u00a0 So, the doctor then called the Board of Education and told them everything, what he thought, and that I needed to go to the hospital.\u00a0 The Board of Education called me and I said \u201cNo, I just want to sleep,\u201d and they are like, \u201cIt\u2019s too late. Your supervisor is coming to your house to pick you up, to take you to the hospital.\u201d<\/em><\/div>\n

Although somewhat comical to Jamie, she saw this as a privacy violation.\u00a0 After-all, this isn’t a situation Jamie would have experienced in her home country.\u00a0 People now knew information she didn’t want them to know.\u00a0 She attempted to not have her school involved, but things didn’t go the way she planned.\u00a0 In reality, the doctor’s decision potentially saved her life, but, at the same time, Jamie perceived her privacy to be violated.<\/p>\n

This sentiment was echoed throughout stories of ALTs’ health experiences.\u00a0 Someone told someone, who told someone else…and before they knew it, everyone knew information about them and, yet, they didn’t know much about anyone else.<\/p>\n

How did ALTs manage their privacy in this study?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Withdrawing from workplace relationships (i.e., not talking to co-workers), lying, intentionally or through omission, and relying on the help of a non-workplace related friend (i.e., another ALT, Japanese friend, etc.) were the three most common strategies shared.\u00a0 For example, if an ALT was on medication that they didn’t want their co-workers to know about, they might say it was an “allergy” pill.\u00a0 If any ALT felt their privacy was violated, they stopped talking to co-workers…sometimes about everything.<\/p>\n

Questions for you:<\/strong><\/p>\n