Page 9 - Spring 19

The challenges of
Homeopathy in Japan
This article from Minako in the mag in 2012 shows how things have moved on in Japan.
It has been roughly a decade since the JPSH (Japanese Physicians Society for Homeopathy) was established as a homeopathic organization for medical practioners in Japan. More recently, we established the JAVH (Japanese Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy), a vet-focused group within the JPSH organization. Currently, the JAVH
members exceed 100 vets in Japan. It’s been a long road, however, progress is being made in the welcoming of homeopathy in Japan.
That said, we still have a long way to go. There is much criticism of homeopathy in many parts of the world, so it’s not surprising vets in Japan have experienced cynicism as well regarding homeopathic treatments. But, the issues regarding the mainstream acceptance of homeopathy are unique in Japan. It’s not simply a matter of politics.
In Japan, everyone speaks Japanese. As a result, learning homeopathy only in English is challenging, difficult and/or impossible depending on the person. Not only are vets expected to understand English but they are required to understand specialized terms found only within the study of homeopathy. It’s one thing to determine when an animal is ill and it requires a particular medicine to cure it proven by scientific data. It’s quite another to fully comprehend and use the rubric system to help patients.
Moreover, this system has proven incredibly challenging to translate into Japanese making English a requirement for those vets
practicing
homeopathy. This creates severe limits on who can engage in learning and practicing homeopathy in Japan. But these are not the only limits. For instance, the use of the term “damp”, a word I didn’t understand when I first heard it, refers to a weather pattern uncommon in Japan. Japan weather tends to be dry or humid, but not damp, so this provides another challenge. Even when translated, not all remedies can be applied in the same way as in the UK.
The above challenges are surmountable, I believe, however, it’s not uncommon for vets in Japan to work 10- hour days six days a week and be on call 24 hours a day. For those vets, homeopathy is not a realistic goal due to time constraints. Add to that the lack of the government support that doesn’t recognize homeopathy as a medical treatment, hesitance to trust a system only sometimes scientifically-proven and the unpopular nature of homeopathy in Japan made worse by lay-homeopaths well-advertised mistakes, it’s kind of surprising homeopathy exists here at all.
In an effort to overcome these challenges the JAVH, with the JPSH, is moving towards being accepted at vet conference in Japan, making formal requests to government officials to help formally recognize homeopathy as a medical treatment, inviting guest- speakers from the UK to educate our members through the use of examples and translations and share Japan- focused case studies that take into consideration weather, culture and patient needs.
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