A Niseko season is long and intense; sooner or later you'll catch a cold or wrench a knee. The Kutchan town clinic is where you'll go. If you can say 'my head hurts', 'I have a fever', 'no, no allergies' in Japanese, you cut your visit from an hour of charades to ten clean minutes.
The core question the doctor or receptionist asks: どうしましたか (dōshimashita ka) — 'What happened?' / 'What's wrong?'
Three core patterns for symptoms:
1. 〜 が 痛い (いたい) です — My 〜 hurts. - 頭 が 痛い です。 — My head hurts. - お腹 が 痛い です。 — My stomach hurts.
2. 〜 が あります — I have 〜 (for conditions like fever, cough). - 熱 が あります。 — I have a fever. - せき が あります。 — I have a cough.
3. 〜 は ありません — I don't have 〜. The negative of あります. - アレルギー は、ありません。 — I don't have allergies.
Body parts worth memorizing:
Illness vocabulary:
Timing: 〜 から — since 〜. Tells the doctor how long you've had it.
At a Kutchan clinic, the receptionist will usually ask for your 保険証 (ほけんしょう, insurance card). If you don't have Japanese insurance, say 『保険証は、ありません。自費でおねがいします』 — 'No insurance card. I'll pay out of pocket.'
head
stomach / belly
throat
fever
cold (illness)
cough
medicine
hospital / clinic
allergy
health insurance card
My 〜 hurts. The body part takes が.
I have 〜 / I don't have 〜. Used for symptoms, items, conditions.
Describing symptoms at the Kutchan town clinic
Translate: 'My head has hurt since yesterday.'
Which particle fills the blank? 『頭 ____ 痛いです』
Order: ありません / は / アレルギー
3日前から、熱があります。
Imagine you have a cold with fever since 2 days ago. Write a 4-line clinic conversation: (1) answer どうしましたか, (2) say since when, (3) answer the allergy question, (4) ask for medicine.
Tomorrow (Day 11): directions in detail — right / left / before / after, so you can navigate Kutchan on foot.
