WOMEN’S HEALTH
Arrange pregnancy appointments, obtain your health handbook and understand which provider or municipal office handles each document and enquiry.
Contact a maternity provider about its appointment process, then ask your municipal maternal-and-child health counter about pregnancy notification, the health handbook and local support. The provider manages medical care; the municipality manages its registration and assistance procedures. This guide does not confirm pregnancy or choose clinical care.
Yokohama instructs residents who have received confirmation of pregnancy at a medical institution to submit a pregnancy notification at their ward health and welfare center. It then issues a Mother and Child Health Handbook and checkup tickets. This is a documented local process; ask your own municipality which forms and supporting documents apply. Yokohama pregnancy and childbirth guidance
Ask the provider what information it will give you for the notification. When contacting the municipal office, ask for the maternal-and-child health counter and explain your preferred language. Confirm whether an appointment is needed, who may submit the form and how to obtain a handbook in another language.
The handbook is a continuing record shared across pregnancy and child-health appointments. Checkup tickets or vouchers support specified services under local rules; they are not a promise that every visit or test is free. The official MHLW pregnancy and child-rearing guide explains these document types. Some details in that older guide require current local confirmation, including financial amounts.
Keep original records together and ask the provider which overseas records it needs. If you move, contact both municipalities about transferring records and unused vouchers. Do not assume the new municipality or a provider elsewhere accepts the old set.
What the tickets cover differs by municipality. Shinagawa City in Tokyo lists the set it issues with the handbook at pregnancy notification: prenatal checkup tickets for the first visit and for visits 2 to 14, four ultrasound tickets, one cervical cancer screening ticket, one newborn hearing test ticket, two postnatal checkup tickets and one 1-month infant checkup ticket. Anything outside the tickets is paid separately. Ask your own municipality what its set covers and how to claim if you are seen outside its contracted facilities. Shinagawa City: pregnancy notification
A normal delivery is not treated as an illness, so it is not covered by public health insurance and each facility sets its own price. MHLW's Shussan Navi (出産なび) site shows delivery costs and services for maternity facilities nationwide, so you can compare before you book. MHLW: Shussan Navi
If you are enrolled in Japanese public health insurance, your insurer pays a childbirth lump sum (出産育児一時金) of, in principle, ¥500,000 per child, for a birth at 4 months (85 days) of pregnancy or later. Under the direct payment system (直接支払制度), the facility claims the lump sum from your insurer for you, so you pay only the difference at discharge. If the bill is lower than the lump sum, you can claim the difference from your insurer. MHLW: childbirth lump sum
Without Japanese public health insurance there is no lump sum. Ask the facility for its self-pay delivery price in writing, and check whether your own insurance covers pregnancy and newborn care; many travel policies do not.
Ask whether the clinic provides consultations only or also handles delivery bookings. If care is transferred, establish who sends records and who confirms acceptance. Tell reception your language needs and ask whether consent discussions require a particular interpreting arrangement.
Request its current fees in writing, including what vouchers cover, what is self-funded and when payment is due. Ask your insurer about benefits separately. A delivery booking and approval of an insurance benefit are separate decisions.
In a 20 September 2025 discussion, a participant described being directed to a different office to obtain an English handbook. This illustrates a practical language-and-document question to ask locally. It does not establish nationwide stock, a free-care entitlement or a clinical timetable. Community accounts are individual and may be outdated.
Pregnancy and childbirth costs and the maternal and child health handbook have their own guides in preparation. To find an obstetrics and gynecology clinic that accepts foreign patients, use the [clinic finder](/en/clinics?spec=OB%2FGYN#results).
Official sources checked on 17 October 2026; costs, ticket example and after-birth paperwork checked 24 October 2026. Next review: 17 January 2027.
Information provided for planning purposes only. No diagnosis, treatment recommendations, or direct booking services.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Search obstetrics and gynecology clinics that accept foreign patients, by area and language.
Care Compass Japan does not book care, make a referral or send your medical records through these links.