Question by teepetlhw: Can you help me understand these Japanese insurance terms?
I will be studying in Japan this summer, but not long enough to warrant a student visa or international student eligibility for Japan’s National Health Insurance, so I’m required to get my own health insurance that covers 15 million yen in “Injury Death” and 5 million yen in “Injury Treatment”, “Sickness Death”, “Sickness Treatment”, and “Rescuers Expense”.
These terms don’t match up to any policy I can find.
I can find things like Lifetime Maximum Benefits, Pregnancy Coverage, Policy Year Maximum Benefits, Basic Medical, Supplemental Major Medical, Fees for Diagnosis/Treatment, Hospital Charges, Laboratory/Diagnostic/X-ray, Outpatient Prescription Drugs, Durable Medical Equipment, Hospital Room & Board, Intensive Care, Mental Disorders, Drug/Alcohol Abuse, Motor Vehicle Accident, Ground Ambulance, Injuries to Sound Teeth, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Medical Evacuation and Repatriation of Remains.
It seems like “Accidential Death and Dismemberment” oughta be what covers both “Injury Death” and “Sickness Death”, but I can’t find anything anywhere close to 15 mill yen (about $ 150,000 usd), so I’m thinking maybe they lump in some other stuff like repatriation and hospital fees, but I’d like to see some actual definitions.
“thecheapest”‘s answer gave a common sense explanation for what the terms might be, which doesn’t really help. I have common sense. I’d like a translation of these Japanese benefit terms to American benefit terms like the ones I listed in the paragraph that starts with “I can find things like…”

$ 150,000 benefits for accidental death and dismemberment is unheard of, so “injury” death must include something else, or else dying in Japan is exceptionally expensive.

Best answer:

Answer by thecheapest902
“Injury Death”; money to pay to your family when you get injured and died as a result.

“Injury Treatment”: money to pay to you as its cost when you get injured and get treatment

“Sickness Death”:money to pay to your family when you get sick and died as a result.

“Sickness Treatment”: money to pay to you as its cost when you get sick and get treatment

“Rescuers Expense”: money to pay to your family if they need to come to you as emergency

Answer by Leftcoast USA
If you already have health insurance, there usually is international coverage, just that you have to pay the full medical bill up front and put up with a reimbursement that may only take forever. So travel insurance is what you want to get. You can get a policy from an American issuer or a Japanese issuer.

http://www.hthtravelinsurance.com/1_benefits_exc.cfm
http://vivavida.net/en/plan/meds.html

The Japanese Viva Vida policy has exactly the coverage you need, but the premium is five times as high for a one-year-long coverage.

But life insurance makes no sense if you have no dependents (children or maybe spouse), so you might as well just ignore that part if you aren’t even married.

Most of both injury and sickness treatment translate to basic medical. Injury death would translate to the accidental death & dismemberment, but sickness death would not.