Health care in Japan has been deeply affected by Western medicine, in particular medicine in the United States, and Japan has reciprocated the favor many times. Although Japan's health care practices were mainly influenced by Chinese practices historically, during the Meiji period the government of the time decided to adopt Western-style health care practices. Early on, European countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, and France were most influential, and there are still many common medical words in Japanese that are based on German and French. With time, Japanese physicians and scientists began studying more and more in the United States, and today the United States is the most influential country with regard to the practice of medicine and health care in Japan.

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