The difference between physical therapy in the US, Japan and the Philippines

I’m a trader mainly trading stock index futures. I have no idea about physical therapy but a friend of mine in Japan is a student of physical therapy. He always complains about the standards of physical therapy in Japan. He said, “Physical therapy in Japan is 10 years behind than the one in the US.” And he asked me “How is physical therapy in the Philippines?” Of course, I couldn’t answer. Then, I researched a little about physical therapy.

First, I looked over physical therapy in Japan.
I found this website about Japanese Physical Therapy Association.

And this is their PR brochure.

They emphasized on how they make their patients enjoy the therapy. It seems that they consider good attitude and dedication very important.


Next, I looked over physical therapy in the US.
And I found the website of American Physical Therapy Association. However, their website doesn’t emphasize anything.

Here is a slide presented by APTA.

They presented “Practice Based on Evidence” in the slide and seemed to consider that skills and technology are important.


I found a short report written by a Japanese physical therapy student.

The opinion of the student is the same as my friend’s. The student also complained about the standards of physical therapy in Japan. He said that physical therapists (PTs) in the US use computers when they crunch and encode data from patients, and then programmed robots help patients exercise. He also questioned the legal system of physical therapy. PTs in Japan can’t start their own hospitals. They are just like nurses but PTs in the US can. The student suggested that the difference between the legal systems might affect the PTs' motivation for upgrading skills and technology.


Then, I had a trial lesson at HLCA, an ESL school specialized in medical English.

I asked the teacher how physical therapy in the Philippines is. She answered as follows:

The standards of physical therapy in the Philippines weren’t bad. Although she wasn’t sure which one is better, in Japan or in the Philippines. However, it has problems. Most Filipinos are so poor that they cannot afford physical therapy but only few the rich can. That’s why PTs have fewer job opportunities.

Her friend’s mother is a physical therapist but she almost stays at home as a housewife because she only has few assignments on physical therapy. One of her friends studied physical therapy in college but is trying to change his career into medicine. Most PTs want jobs abroad.


The Philippines is a good place to learn medical English even for physical therapy. However, just like Japan, it also has its problems. I hope those problems will be solved.

My grandfather

One day, I had a dinner with my Filipina girlfriend and her family in Davao. Her grandfather asked me at the dinner, “Was your father a soldier?” I answered, “No, he was just a boy during the Second World War.” He said, “My father fought against Japanese soldiers and got injured. He received a pension from the government.”

I’m a Japanese. The Philippines fought the Pacific War against Japan. My girlfriend’s great-grandfather fought against Japan. That’s why her grandfather was interested and asked me about it. My father was just a boy during the Second World War. My grandfather had never been a solider either. But he had been an officer of the Interior Ministry.

My grandfather was born in a prefecture in Japan. He was a policeman. I don’t know the details, but he moved to Tokyo and became an officer of the Interior Ministry. He visited Myanmar once as an officer during the Second World War and never visited other countries.

His mission was to suppress and to survey the people’s belief in Japan. He interrogated Japanese communists. He wrote a report on how common Japanese thought of the war. The report concluded that common Japanese detested the war. I supposed half of the report was what my grandfather felt.

After the defeat of the Japanese empire, my grandfather and other officers burned the documents to keep it from the US forces. The record of interrogation of communists was part of them. But, my grandfather didn’t actually burned his report on how common Japanese despised the war. 

The US forces (General Head Quarters) came to the Interior Ministry and found my grandfather’s report. They appreciated his report and asked him to cooperate on their occupation. To occupy Japan, they need to know what Japanese thought and his report was useful to them. He accepted. In return, he got reward from them. Most of the Japanese starved right after the defeat of the Japanese empire. But my grandfather and his family didn’t.

My grandfather became a policeman once again after the dissolution of the Interior Ministry. He got old, retired from police and died.

My grandfather didn’t like war. But he joined the war of aggression by suppressing people who were against the war. Despite the circumstances, his honesty and conscience remained clear because of his report. It saved him and his family from starvation later on.

We should keep our honesty and conscience clear even in an extremely difficult situation. Honesty and conscience will save us.