Clinic AI in Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, what private clinics and health systems should know in 2026

The private care market in Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe

Osaka City had 3,734 general clinics on 1 October 2023, 134.8 per 100,000 residents, against 101.3 for Osaka Prefecture and 84.4 for Japan as a whole.⁵ Only 65 of them had beds, so almost all of that care happens in outpatient practices.⁵ Kyoto City had 1,622 general clinics and 95 hospitals on the same date, 112.4 clinics per 100,000 people.⁶

At the end of 2022, Osaka Prefecture had 26,518 doctors, 302.0 per 100,000 people, and Kyoto Prefecture had 355.6 per 100,000, both above the national 274.7.¹⁰ Each holds a licence from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare after the national examination, under Article 2 of the Medical Practitioners' Act.²

The rules a Kansai clinic works under

The Act on the Protection of Personal Information, enforced by the Personal Information Protection Commission, lists medical history as sensitive personal information in Article 2(3).¹ Article 20(2) bars acquiring it without the person's prior consent, outside listed exceptions, and Article 28 requires consent, given after information on the destination country's protection system, before personal data goes to a third party abroad, unless that country or recipient meets the Commission's equivalence standards.¹

Article 24 of the Medical Practitioners' Act requires the doctor to write the record without delay, and the clinic's administrator to keep it for five years.² MHLW's Guidelines for the Security Management of Medical Information Systems set the technical and organisational measures for any system holding those records, and version 7.0 was issued in June 2026.³

On AI itself, MHLW's notice of 19 December 2018 states that when a program using AI supports diagnosis or treatment, the physician remains the one who diagnoses and treats and bears final responsibility for the judgement, as medical practice under Article 17 of the Act.⁴

Japan has no single statute on recording a consultation. The audio carries medical history, so the APPI prior consent is the step to write down, starting from the consent form template.¹

wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with your clinic. wai is compliant with these rules and built for clinics in Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. The doctor reviews and signs each drafted note, as the 2018 notice describes, and every signature is logged for the clinic to export.

The languages Kansai patients write in

Japanese comes first. Osaka Prefecture had 360,390 foreign residents at the end of June 2025, up 26,826 in six months.⁹ Kobe had 54,522 foreign residents from 143 countries and regions in March 2024, led by Chinese nationals (15,109), Korean nationals (14,626), Vietnamese (8,398) and Nepalese (3,638).⁷

wai works in any language.⁸ The receptionist reads and approves each reply before it goes, in the patient's own language.

What a demo shows in Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe

The demo starts with a message sent through the clinic's website at 21.30, from a Kobe office worker asking whether she can see the dermatologist on Saturday morning before a family trip. wai reads it in her thread, checks the doctor's busy times in Google Calendar, finds the open 10.00 slot and drafts a reply in the clinic's own polite register. The receptionist approves it before morning surgery.

The booking link takes a deposit in yen through the clinic's own Stripe account, with the clinic as merchant of record, and the patient receives an intake questionnaire. After the consultation, the doctor edits and signs the drafted note and any referral letter. Bring a real evening enquiry from last month, and read the guide to one inbox for clinic messages for what to measure.

For hospital groups, insurers and public bodies in Kansai

Hospital groups and prefectural or municipal bodies across Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo can run a system of their own on wai, under their brand, beginning with one pathway and its measures. Rights to data, configuration and models are agreed in the contract, as the organisations page explains.

Where to start

First, add an APPI prior consent for medical information and consultation audio to intake.¹ Second, get in writing where records are held, which Article 28 ground covers any transfer abroad and which version of the MHLW security guideline the controls follow.¹³

Third, write into the clinical records policy that the doctor signs every AI-drafted note, in line with the 2018 notice, and confirm five-year retention and full export in the contract.⁴² Fourth, count last month's enquiries by channel and hour.

Frequently asked questions