When you sign up for National Health Insurance at your ward office, you will receive a certificate which must be shown at medical institutions so that most of your costs will be covered. You will receive a bill quarterly and the amount will depend on your earnings for last year. There are no surgical, internal or ophthalmology divisions in Oriental medicine, just one complete system to treat the whole body. Since it is holistic therapy, the purpose is not to relieve individual symptoms locally with drugs that may harm the rest of the body, but to correct the balance of the whole body's energy, ''ki'', so that healing comes about naturally. Modern medicine has no unified system for treating the whole body.
Many healthy people use it to maintain good health and also as a way of relaxing.
Hair-like needles are applied to certain points on the body, treatment is painless and counseling is an important part of the therapy. Okyu and shiatsu work on similar principles. These alternatives to hospitals and surgery are gaining a wider audience worldwide. Being in Tokyo gives you an opportunity to try it and see for yourself. It is best to attend an acupuncturist recommended by someone that you know well, as there are some therapists whose skills are not up to standard.