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# Working as a physician in Japan

Physician is a regulated profession in Japan. Foreign qualifications go through: Foreign medical-school graduates or foreign medical-license holders require Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare recognition of eligibility to sit the Japanese national examination; the document lists physician among the covered qualifications.

- Regulation: Regulated
- Recognition route: Foreign medical-school graduates or foreign medical-license holders require Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare recognition of eligibility to sit the Japanese national examination; the document lists physician among the covered qualifications.; MHLW screens foreign education/licence documents for eligibility. An eligible direct-route applicant can take the national exam; another route requires the preliminary exam and, after passing it, at least one year of clinical and public-health practical training before the national exam.
- Recognition authority: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; MHLW grants exam-eligibility recognition for foreign medical-school graduates or foreign physician-licence holders.
- Language requirement: Applicants undergo a Japanese clinical-ability assessment of medical interviewing, listening, speaking, writing, reading and examination; the published pass rule is at least 60/100 overall and no zero rating. The authority does not state a CEFR equivalence.

## Sources

PDF pp. 1-4; 医師国家試験受験資格認定; sections 1-3 and target national qualifications list — https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10803000/001251545.pdf
MHLW physician national-exam eligibility system and current examination route. — https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_50884.html

## Cite

This citation identifies the ImmigrationDB compilation/page. Underlying source publishers and datasets retain their own terms; inspect the Sources section and cite those records separately.

### APA

ImmigrationDB. (2026, October 16). Physician in Japan: recognition [ImmigrationDB compilation; version 7254cee8afaa76a4c67fcd200056a294]. ImmigrationDB. https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/physician/japan/ Retrieved 2026-10-16. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

### BibTeX

```bibtex
@misc{immigrationdb_immigrationdb_physician-in-japan-recognition_397fc5f72f8f,
  author = {ImmigrationDB},
  title = {Physician in Japan: recognition},
  publisher = {ImmigrationDB},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-10-16},
  version = {7254cee8afaa76a4c67fcd200056a294},
  url = {https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/physician/japan/},
  note = {Retrieved 2026-10-16. ImmigrationDB compilation. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/},
}
```

### Markdown

[Physician in Japan: recognition](https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/physician/japan/) — ImmigrationDB; ImmigrationDB; version 7254cee8afaa76a4c67fcd200056a294; retrieved 2026-10-16; built 2026-10-16.

- Citation schema: `immigrationdb-citation-v1`
- Canonical URL: https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/physician/japan/
- Title: Physician in Japan: recognition
- Author: ImmigrationDB
- Publisher: ImmigrationDB
- Snapshot: `approved-static-48d32b636f07abc8`
- Version: `7254cee8afaa76a4c67fcd200056a294`
- Retrieved: 2026-10-16
- Built: 2026-10-16
- Compilation license: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

## Boundary

This is reference information, not legal advice. Verify current requirements with the linked authority.