Japanese throng to Oriental medicine clinics in Korea

“Japan has no Oriental medicine clinics that provide this type of treatment. I was also prescribed herbal medicine. I expect to benefit from it.”

So said Eri Yanai, a Japanese woman who received moxibustion and acupuncture treatment to lose weight for more than four hours at Kwangdong Oriental Hospital in Seoul’s Gangnam district Thursday.

Her friend Jiharu Yamakishi added, “Acupuncture stung a bit but it wasn’t painful,” adding, “If this is effective, I`ll come again around October to get more treatment.”

They came to Seoul for a four-day visit to get Oriental medicine treatment. Yamakishi, who visits Korea frequently, brought her friend to Seoul this time after getting information on Korea’s Oriental medicine through TV and magazines.

Oriental medicine clinics in Korea are very popular with Japanese. They use the clinics not only to improve their looks and lose weight but to treat problems with their spine and joints.

○ Kudos to systematic and effective treatment

According to the Korea Tourism Organization Friday, 6,246 Japanese received in this year`s first half treatment at nine Korean hospitals and clinics, including those for Oriental medicine, dermatology and plastic surgery, that mainly target Japanese tourists. The figure is up 35.2 percent from the same period last year.

Among them, Oriental medicine clinics saw the largest increase in the number of Japanese patients.

The number of Japanese patients at Kwandong, Jaseng Hospital of Oriental Medicine, Migreen Oriental Medical Clinic and Kyurim Oriental Clinic, all of which are well known to Japanese, grew almost 3.3 fold from 844 in the first half last year to 2,752 in this year’s first half.

Such clinics are popular because their treatment is highly effective. Japanese patients who got treatment there say they are highly satisfied with the results.

Shoko Uraguchi, who has received treatment five times at Migreen in Seoul’s Jung district since February last year, said, “If I receive cosmetic acupuncture, an herbal medicine facial pack and moisturizing care that uses ingredients from makgeolli (traditional Korean rice wine), I feel my wrinkles disappear and my skin grows more elastic,” adding, “After taking herbal medicine for three months, my menopausal symptoms have remarkably declined.”

So impressed by this, Uraguchi, the owner of a skin care salon in Japan, has brought her staff to the clinic.

“Japanese hospitals only pay attention to treating diseases, but Korean hospitals also focus on interior and better services. So I feel healthier mentally as well as physically after treatment,” she said.

Sayoko Takahashi began treatment Monday for a slipped disc at Jaseng Hospital of Oriental Medicine in Seoul’s Gangnam district. She underwent surgery in Japan in 2008 and was hospitalized for four months.

With little progress in her condition, however, she got information on Jaseng through the Internet and visited the hospital in September last year. Takahashi was hospitalized there to get acupuncture and chuna therapy, a sort of figure-pressure treatment, for three weeks. She also took herbal medicine.

Six months after the treatment, she said she felt "completely cured." After suffering a relapse due to an increased workload, however, she came back to the hospital.

“I`m recommending this hospital to my acquaintances,” Takahashi said.

To attract Japanese patients, Korean Oriental medicine clinics have hired Japanese interpreters and opened Japanese homepages.

Kwandong President Cho Jin-hyeong said, “We have recently introduced partial diet programs. We are also making efforts to develop new therapies.”

The Korea Tourism Organization is also helping Oriental medicine clinics draw more Japanese patients. It has promoted the clinics at a medical tourism exposition in Japan and cooperated with Japanese broadcasters to produce programs for medical tourism.

Jin Su-nam, head of the travel body`s medical tourism promotion team, said, “Many Japanese are suffering from insomnia and mental fatigue in the wake of the massive earthquake in March. So Oriental medicine treatment will be well received by them,” adding, “We`re reviewing various promotional measures, one of which is joining hands with Japanese publishers to insert information on Oriental medicine clinics in tourist guides.”

aryssong@donga.com