A trip to the doctor

 This is the back entrance to the hospital where we go to see our doctor. In Japan most doctors, but not all, have a small clinic/hospital where they see outpatients. If it is slightly bigger there will be a few beds for patients. I am not sure how many beds this hospital has but I am pretty sure that it is less than 20. Even so, there is a wide range of equipment for tests, x-ray, ultrasonic, internal cameras, etc. At this hospital, you get a prescription for medicine and you go to a pharmacy that is in the same block.

 This is the pharmacy. The building on the right is part of the hospital. Here, there is a pharmacist and clerk. They stock all the medicine that the doctors in the hospital prescribe and probably nothing else. The pharmacist ask you about your illness and checks that the prescription is correct. If there appears to be a problem, he will call the hospital and double check. Just as at the hospital, you present your health insurance card along with the prescription. In my case, I have to pay 10% of the cost, but my wife who is younger must still pay 30%. The main reason for paying is to make people think twice about going to the hospital when they are not really sick. The insurance coverage is extremely wide, covering most medical conditions, hospitalization, medicine and dental work.

This is the front door to my apartment. Although there is a mail slot in the door, mail is placed in a mail box on the first floor. However, our daily newspaper is placed in the slot.

This is the second floor landing. I was standing here when I took the above picture. One of the mysteries about this place has all the black marks on the concrete floors and stairs. The entire staircase is covered with them, but I could not figure out where they came from. Finally, the other day, my wife was talking to the lady who comes daily to sweep the entrance and clean the public areas. She told my wife that a few years ago there had been a fire on the third floor that that the water the fire department used to extinguish the fire had carried ashes and soot down the stairs and that they had stained the concrete. Mystery solved.