5 Tips For Staying Healthy While Traveling In Japan This Winter

Above, a view of Tokyo Tower from Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Winter is two months away from now, and that means cold and flu season.

Japan Today has posted an article by Amy Chavez on 5 tips to staying healthy while traveling in Japan during the winter. Actually, these are generally common-sense tips that can be applied at home as well.

It begins with:

TOKYO —I spent two winter seasons working in the hospital emergency room (as a translator) in Niseko, a popular Hokkaido snow holiday destination for foreigners. While we had our share of broken bones from ski and boarding accidents, what impressed upon me most was the number of people who get ill while on vacation. There were just as many sudden illnesses as snow-related accidents – everything from gastrointestinal disorders to ear infections and first-time asthma attacks which too many times put people in the emergency room. 

The good news is that most of these illnesses can be avoided, but different cultures pose different health risks and knowing what to watch out for beforehand can be tricky, if not impossible. In this article, I’ll share some tips on how to stay healthy while traveling in Japan in wintertime, based on my experience working with hundreds of foreigners who ended up in hospital on their vacations.

One of the things I do before going to Japan is to take Vitamin C tablets everyday before going (I usually begin doing this about 2 weeks before departure). This is to build up my immune system. I also continue to take a Vitamin C tablet each day in Japan. Since I began doing this, I have not gotten ill during my trips.

To read the article, go here.