Travel to Japan

Japan is an industrialized nation with a high level of medical care available in cities, similar to care available in the United States. It is not necessary to be seen at the Student Health Center’s Travel Clinic for travel to Japan.

For travel to Japan we recommend travelers be up-to-date on routine immunizations. These include polio, tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis (Td or Tdap), measles/mumps/rubella (MMR), chickenpox (varicella) and Hepatitis B. You can visit the CDC website for more specific information about immunization information and recommendations for travel to Japan. If you need to update your routine immunizations, you can call the Student Health Center at 360-650-3400 to schedule an appointment with a nurse to get those vaccines.

Japanese encephalitis is another vaccine that is available for travelers who are going to rural parts of Japan for extended periods of time during periods of peak transmission. This vaccine is not usually indicated if traveling only to Tokyo and other major cities in Japan. Please refer to the CDC website for more specific information about Japanese encephalitis disease and the Japanese encephalitis vaccine.