Informational only, not legal advice. Verify with official sources before relying on this.

Know Abroad

JapanJapan

Health & Medical Emergencies

Last verified August 15, 2026

Written for U.S. passport holders

Emergency Numbers

  • Dial 119 for an ambulance or fire. Dial 110 separately for police, Japan doesn't use one unified number the way many other countries on this site do.
  • Both lines are free to call, staffed 24/7, and increasingly have English-speaking operators available, though a Japanese speaker on the line still helps things move faster.
  • For U.S. consular emergency assistance (a detained or hospitalized American, coordinating care, notifying family), call the State Department's Overseas Citizens Services from anywhere in the world: +1-888-407-4747 (from the U.S. or Canada) or +1-202-501-4444 (from overseas). This is separate from the local emergency number and won't dispatch an ambulance itself, but it's the number that gets the U.S. government involved.

Getting Treated as a Foreigner

  • Japan's ambulance service itself is free regardless of nationality or insurance status; the bill comes later, from the hospital that treats you, not from the ambulance ride.
  • Without Japanese national health insurance (which tourists don't have), you're billed the full, un-subsidized rate for hospital care, which can be substantially higher than what a Japanese resident with insurance would pay for the same treatment.

The Gotcha

Calling for an ambulance in Japan is genuinely free, no bill for the ride itself, which surprises a lot of Americans used to a per-transport ambulance charge back home. The actual hospital treatment afterward is a different story: as a foreign tourist without Japanese insurance, you're paying the full rate, not a subsidized one, so travel insurance still matters even though the ambulance itself won't cost you anything.

Sources

This page was drafted from the primary sources below. Rules change, so check the linked page directly before relying on any of this.