Traditional Health Behavior of foreigners living in Japan

- Medical Anthropological study of three different ethnic groups -

Abstract

Introduction
Folk medicine is practiced in most countries for the purpose of treating illnesses, preventing from ailments and promoting health. When people immigrate, they bring and practice their medical experience and knowledge in the new country. They integrate their culture and traditional medical practices to those of their new home country.
Methods
Forty five foreigners from three different countries i.e. China, Philippine, Brazil, living in Japan were interviewed in-depth, in order to compare the differences of their traditional health behavior.
Results
The results show that Chinese have more knowledge, practice traditional health behavior more and suffer less from ailments than Philippinos and Brazilians, during the one year period prior to the date of interview. Most respondents practice traditional health behavior for health promotion and prevention from ailments while they chose either traditional or modern medicine for treatment according to the symptoms or diseases. All respondents consciously took certain drinks for promoting and maintaining their health. Only Chinese practice the "hot-cold" classification in illness management and diet. The concepts of opposition and balance are only some of the several approaches used in treating illnesses. Philippinos and Chinese use traditional health practices for maternal and child care more than Brazilians. More than 30% of Philippinos suffered from severe morning sickness and 20% of them gained excess weight rapidly during pregnancy. Respondents from all three countries took special traditional meals to recover from tiredness and produce adequate breast milk after childbirth.
Conclusions
All three different groups have integrated their own traditional health behavior to the Japanese life style not only for promotion and prevention from illnesses but also to complement medical services in Japan. It was found that some traditional practices were in common and others were very unique among the three countries. Suggestions for further research are made.