Cross-cultural communication （54）　

54） Is Dr. Kido a celebrity?
It was spring of 2014. I received a call from a hotel in down-town Osaka at around 1pm, just after the morning consultations had finished. A French tourist staying at the hotel had a painful rash on his lower legs and wanted to see me as soon as possible. The hotel staff said that the French couple (the husband was the patient) could only speak French, so they wanted me to speak directly to them. The wife answered the phone. I immediately began by saying in French, “If you speak slowly and use simple vocabulary and sentence structures, I will be able to understand what you are saying,” and she seemed to be used to traveling and used to speaking French to foreigners, so I was able to grasp the situation in detail using easy-to-understand French. I decided to ask them to come to my office at 4pm before the evening consultation began.

The patient was a French couple in their 30s and their elementary school-aged son. On the patient's right calf, there was a red, swollen rash with a faint red inflammation around it. There was also tenderness when pressed, and the diagnosis was cellulitis . If he takes antibiotics for a week, it should get better. The problem was solved in a surprisingly short time, so we ended up chatting about various topics. I first asked them how they had found out about Kido Clinic. I had assumed that they had found out about it from the consulate's website after arriving in Japan, but it turned out that wasn't the case. This was their second trip to Japan, and they had found out about the website for French people traveling in Japan from their previous trip. On that website, the addresses and names of doctors who speak French are listed in Tokyo and Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe). They also publish testimonials from users. Of course, the address of Kido Clinic and my name are listed, and there are also posts from some of the French people I have treated here. When I asked about my reputation, I was told that it was excellent, which is why he contacted me this time. When I half-jokingly said that if the prescription worked this time, he would post that Dr. Kido was a great doctor, he immediately replied with a straight face that he would do so.

By the way, the patient is a businessman, and he speaks English with almost no problems. This is different from the hotel staff who said that both husband and wife could only speak French. He said that he had explained to them in English, but the hotel staff did not understand much English either. However, he seemed to be grateful for the hotel staff's friendly response, and he did not blame them for not being able to speak the language.

They were enjoying their trip to Japan using their Easter holidays. Their son's school also has spring break at that time, but their travel schedule slightly exceeds the school holidays. However, it seems that French elementary schools don't really care about things like that.

The whole family is a fan of Japan, so they said they would come to Japan again next year for Easter, and left the clinic in a good mood.

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