Guides · 性感染症・HIV検査 · seikansenshō kensa
STI and HIV Testing in Japan — Free Anonymous Tests, Clinics, and What Stays Private
Testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (性感染症, seikansenshō) is straightforward in Japan once you know there are two doors, and that they run on different rules. One is free and anonymous and follows the public sector's calendar. The other is an ordinary clinic: on your schedule, but not anonymous and usually not free.
The short version
- Public health center (保健所, hokenjo) or municipal testing site. HIV testing is free, and you do not have to give your name or address. Some sites also test for syphilis and other infections. Days, times and booking rules differ from center to center.
- Clinic. You go when it suits you, and the doctor can examine you and treat whatever is found. With symptoms, the visit is normally insured care; a check without symptoms is generally self-pay. It is not anonymous.
Neither door is the better one — they answer different needs. If something is wrong and you want it treated, go to a clinic. If you want a check without giving your name, the health center exists for exactly that.
How free anonymous testing works
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) states it plainly: at health centers and municipal testing sites you can be tested free of charge without giving your name or address.
Booking. Each center sets its own days, hours and booking method, and these do change (see Shinjuku below). Go by the center's current page, not an old list.
What is tested. HIV is the core. Other infections, where offered, may be available only alongside the HIV test. In Shinjuku, HIV is required and syphilis, hepatitis B and chlamydia are optional additions; the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Tama-area service says outright, "You cannot take a test for sexually transmitted infections alone."
Rapid or standard. Some sites offer a rapid test (即日検査, sokujitsu kensa) with a result in about 20 minutes. Rapid tests give a reactive result in about 1 in 100 people who do not have HIV, so a reactive rapid result is a preliminary finding, not a diagnosis: it goes on to a confirmatory test, which takes a week or more. A standard test (通常検査, tsūjō kensa) gives its result later — in Shinjuku, one week later.
Results, and why there is no certificate. Since nobody has taken your name, the result is given to you in person. Shinjuku tells you verbally, one week later, and only you — not by phone, not as a photograph, not on paper. The Tama service states, "We will not issue any certificates." So a health-center result cannot serve as a negative certificate for a visa, an employer or anyone else. If you need a document, ask a clinic in advance whether it can issue one and what it will cost.
Finding a center that works in English
The national map. The HIV testing map on the MHLW website (HIV検査相談マップ) lists testing sites nationwide. Its English version is a fixed list with no search. The Japanese version is the one to use: its detailed search (詳細検索) has a box for 外国語対応可能 ("foreign-language support available"), and lets you choose the infections you want tested — syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HTLV-1 are among the options. A translation app handles the rest of the page.
Shinjuku. Shinjuku City's testing changed in April 2026. It moved to a new venue, the Higashi-Shinjuku Hoken Center (東新宿保健センター), and became appointment-only, bookable online or by phone. Use the city's current English page for the venue, days and booking link (as of September 2026).
Tokyo, Tama area. The metropolitan government runs a testing service in Tachikawa with rapid HIV and syphilis tests; its English information page carries the current schedule (as of September 2026). Tokyo's main HIV testing website (東京都HIV検査情報Web) has no English version.
Help in your language. The free multilingual AMDA line described in our first-visit guide helps people find a clinic that can work in their language.
When to test
The most common source of confusion is that centers give different waiting times. Shinjuku asks that at least 60 days have passed since the possible exposure; the Tama service says at least 90 days (as of September 2026). The MHLW map's Q&A explains that antibodies usually become detectable within about a month, and recommends a repeat test at three months for a negative you can treat as final; its English pages add that nucleic-acid tests (NAT) can detect infection as soon as two weeks.
These figures do not contradict each other: tests differ in how soon they turn positive, and a center that wants a negative result to be conclusive sets a longer wait. Follow the timing given by the place where you test, and if you are tested earlier than its window, ask what that result can and cannot tell you.
Those windows are for checking after a possible exposure when nothing is wrong. If you have symptoms, do not wait for the window to pass — go to a clinic. A symptom is a matter for a doctor's examination, on its own timetable; the waiting period is about when a blood test becomes reliable, not about when to be seen.
Clinics and insurance
Japanese health insurance pays for diagnosing and treating illness, so with symptoms an STI visit is ordinary insured care at your usual share. A test with no symptoms — screening — is generally charged as self-pay (自費, jihi) at clinics. Practice varies, so ask at reception before the test is done, not at the payment window afterward.
Urology (泌尿器科, hinyōkika) and gynecology (婦人科, fujinka) clinics handle STIs routinely. As with any first visit, a few sentences at the desk do most of the work:
- 「症状があります」 (shōjō ga arimasu) — "I have symptoms." Then say what they are.
- 「症状はありませんが、性感染症の検査を受けたいです」 (shōjō wa arimasen ga, seikansenshō no kensa o uketai desu) — "I have no symptoms, but I'd like an STI test."
- 「保険は使えますか。費用はいくらですか」 (hoken wa tsukaemasu ka. hiyō wa ikura desu ka) — "Can I use insurance? How much will it cost?"
Describe what is actually happening: the doctor needs an accurate picture, and billing follows what the doctor records.
Syphilis in Japan
National syphilis (梅毒, baidoku) reports:
| Year | Reported cases |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 5,871 |
| 2021 | 7,978 |
| 2022 | 13,221 |
| 2023 | 15,055 |
| 2024 | 14,829 |
| 2025 | 13,530 (provisional) |
Reports more than doubled between 2020 and 2022 and peaked in 2023. They have eased since, but the MHLW notes more than 10,000 reports a year every year from 2022 onward. The 2025 figure is provisional; the final count is due around February 2027. (Source: national infectious disease surveillance, as compiled by the Osaka Institute of Public Health; 2025 figure as of the week-52 report.)
Prevention: PrEP, PEP and the HPV vaccine
PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis, 曝露前予防). On 28 August 2024, Japan approved emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil (Truvada, ツルバダ配合錠) for PrEP. The approved use is daily dosing; the "on-demand" schedule used in some other countries is outside the approved dosing here. It is prescribed by a doctor; ask the clinic about the total cost before you begin.
PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis, 曝露後予防). PEP is a matter of hours, not weeks. It must be started within 72 hours of the exposure. In Japan it is not approved for this use, so it is self-pay. If you are considering PEP, seek care as soon as possible — do not wait for a testing appointment, which answers a different question on a different timetable. When you call a clinic or hospital, ask directly whether it can provide PEP. At night or at the weekend, see our after-hours guide for how night-time care is organized. The AIDS Clinical Center keeps a PEP information page in Japanese.
The HPV vaccine. HPV vaccination is routine (定期接種, teiki sesshu) for girls from school year 6 through the first year of high school, and from 1 April 2026 the routine program uses only Gardasil 9 (シルガード9). The publicly funded catch-up for those who missed it ended on 31 March 2026. For boys and men it remains voluntary; whether to add them to the routine program was on the agenda of a national vaccine subcommittee in July 2026, with no decision as of September 2026. More in our vaccinations guide.
Privacy — employers, visas, and what "anonymous" covers
What "anonymous" means. The anonymity belongs to health-center testing: no name, no address. A clinic is different. Insured care means showing your insurance card and a claim through your insurer, and any clinic — insured or self-pay — knows who you are and keeps a record. Private, yes; anonymous, no.
Reporting. HIV is a Category 5 infectious disease (五類感染症) that doctors must report every time they diagnose it, and the national report form has no field for the patient's name.
Employers. Japan's workplace guideline on HIV and AIDS (職場におけるエイズ問題に関するガイドライン, 1995) tells employers not to test workers for HIV, including during hiring; to keep workers' HIV information strictly confidential; and that being HIV-positive is not in itself grounds for dismissal. It is an administrative guideline, not a statute — but it states plainly what the ministry expects of employers.
Entry to Japan. Article 5(1)(i) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act allows refusal of landing for people with certain infectious diseases: Category 1 and 2 diseases, novel influenza and related categories, designated infectious diseases, and new infectious diseases. HIV and syphilis are Category 5 and are not in that list. That is one clause about entry, not a statement on every immigration procedure; for questions about your own residence status (在留資格, zairyū shikaku), ask the Immigration Services Agency or an immigration specialist.
General information, not individual medical advice. Testing arrangements, schedules and booking rules change; the official pages linked above were checked in September 2026 and are the authority for your own visit. Whether and when to test, and any treatment, are questions for the clinician or counselor who sees you.