Health Guide Books

In addition to the consultation services and online forms library, AMDA-IMIC produced and distributed print and digital health guidance publications. These booklets addressed health topics specific to the experience of living in Japan as a foreign resident, including navigation of the health system, understanding common diagnoses in a Japanese clinical context, and managing health insurance paperwork.

Types of Publications

The publications distributed through or associated with AMDA-IMIC covered several categories:

• Health system navigation guides: Step-by-step guides in multiple languages explaining how to enroll in health insurance, find an appropriate clinic or hospital, prepare for appointments, and handle post-visit procedures including pharmacy visits and claim submission.
• Emergency phrase cards: Compact reference cards providing essential medical vocabulary and phrases in Japanese alongside translations in the supported languages. These were designed for situations where a foreign resident needed to communicate urgently with Japanese-only medical staff.
• Maternal and child health guides: Japan's maternal and child health handbook (Boshi Techo) system was covered in multilingual guides explaining its purpose, how to obtain a handbook from the local municipality, and how to use it for tracking pregnancy, birth, and infant health.
• Occupational health guides: Publications covering the worker's accident compensation system (rousai hoken), annual health examinations required by Japan's Industrial Safety and Health Act, and the mandatory stress check program introduced in 2015. These were particularly relevant to the foreign technical trainee workforce.
• Infectious disease reference: Guides covering Japan's notifiable disease reporting system, tuberculosis screening requirements for certain visa categories, and the vaccination schedule recommended by Japanese health authorities, with notes on how it differs from schedules common in other countries.

Language Editions

Publications were produced in subsets of the nine languages supported by AMDA-IMIC, with priority given to the languages with the largest foreign resident communities. Portuguese, Filipino, and Chinese editions were among the most consistently produced, reflecting the size and geographic distribution of those communities in Japan. Vietnamese-language editions expanded as the Vietnamese resident population grew significantly from 2015 onward.

Related Forms Documentation

Many of the publications referenced the forms documented in the forms library. The occupational health guides, in particular, included instructions for completing the worker's accident compensation form (rousai form), the stress check form (stress check), and the annual health examination documentation that employers are required to maintain. Having both the form documentation and the explanatory guide in the same language was a practical necessity for the foreign workforce.

Print and digital copies of specific publications from the AMDA-IMIC period may be available through national library archives, consulate records, and web archive services covering the original domain.