I am looking for an eye specialist who speaks english, for my 3 year old daughter. We live at the south west end of Shinagawa-ku, but I would be willing to drive a distance, if I knew it was worth it. Can anybody help me?

Yokohama: Queen's Eye Clinic in Queen's Square (Tower c, 4th Floor). Sakuragicho station.
Hours: 10-13:00, 15-18:00
Tel: 045-682-0109
Dr. Arai, who speaks English, is there Mon, Wed and Thu.
Thursdays there is also an English speaking optometrist available. They have a selection of eyeware there and Dr. Arai fits contact lenses. But you can fill your prescription elsewhere if you prefer.
In Japan the vision test is not with letters as in the USA but with the open circle (same as the eye test for the driving licence).

I just called the number listed above for Dr. Arai and it is wrong. The right number is: 045-682-4455

I have just spoken to Dr. Arai. He is an eye surgeon (ophthalmologist), and he also examines children as well as adults. He is pleased to have his name, and info listed here in these forums, and happy to be of assistance to anyone who needs an English speaking eye doctor.
Apparently this information was first posted on the living-in-yokohama e-list (which is listed at http://www.tokyowithkids.com/fyi/englishspeakingegroups.html, if anyone is interested in joining an e-list that is Yokohama specific).

Also Queen's Eye Clinic is included in the Queen's Square website:
closed: Sat, Sun, Hol. http://www.qsy.co.jp

We will be moving to Tokyo in August with our 1 and 3 yr old children. We just found out that our 1 yr old (actually 17 months) will have to have tubes put in her eyes to correct her blocked tear ducts before we leave. The problem is that in 6 months they will have to be surgically removed. I am trying to decide if I should try to find a pediatric opthamologist there or come back to the states to have it done. Any suggestions out there?

Thanks!

Heather

I would like to highly recommend a developmental optometrist, Dr. Randall Sakamoto to everyone.

We took our 5 year old daughter to him and found out she needed glasses to help her with tracking!

He was really good with her, speaks both excellent English and Japanese and was very thorough.

He also has office hours at an eye glasses shop in Ginza. We ended up buying her glasses from the shop as well and were very pleased. They were running a special at that time and their prices were better than any where else around (even at the military bases).

His phone number is: 3582-2646

He is on Gaien Higashi Dori, close to the U.S. Embassy.

His address is:
International Clinic
1-5-9 Azabu-dai

J. Parry
(very pleased customer)

Dr. Randall Sakamoto has moved back to Hawaii. His office referred me to a Dr. Osamu Katsumi in Shinjuku. Phone number is 03 3354 5347. Receptionist does not speak English. I sent a fax to make an appointment but no one got back to me so I searched and found Mishima Eye Clinic in Kawasaki. They have an English website on which they state "we welcome non Japanese speaking visitors". Having visited the clinic I can say this is absolutely true. The optician who performs the vision test speaks some English, and Dr. Mishima speaks excellent English. The clinic is very easy to get to being one minute from Musashi-Mizonokuchi (Nambu line)or Mizonokuchi stations. (Tokyu Denen-Toshi). There is an English map on the website. They also have a contact lens clinic and a shop. Prescriptions for glasses and contacts do not have to be filled there.
Website is: http://www.mishima-ganka.com/etop.htm

As a follow up to my earlier posting...
Dr. Osamu Katsumi contacted me today. His specialty is pediatric opthamology. He was educated in Tokyo and worked in the US for 16 years. His office is 1 minute from Shinjuku station. Fax number is 03 3354 3516. It is possible to have a vision test and obtain prescriptions for glasses and contact lenses.

I was doing research on LASIK procedure in Japan. It seems to be more than double in price than in the USA. Does anyone have more data on this topic? Here is an example I found:

LASIK example
Kokuritubyouin Kikou Tokyo Iryou Center

• examination Y10,000
• one eye Y260,000
• both Y470,000

Here is a report from my girlfiend in Chicago. It seems that with all the follow-up visits, it might be hard to get the surgery over a summer holiday. I had heard that it would be about $1000/eye from another source, but maybe that did not include all the extra visits.

"My lasik surgery cost me $3500 which includes all visits. I had an eye exam first to see if my eyes were healthy for the procedure. I have had 2 post-op visits and my next one will be in 7 weeks. So far my eyes are healing properly. You can get the surgery done cheaper but I was willing to pay more for somebody with a good reputation in doing lasik surgery and who is also a regular ophthalmologist."

Just a note about Lasik. I did it in Canada in 2003, and left for Tokyo after the one week follow up exam.
I found a fantastic English speaking eye doctor in Shin-Otsuka (Marunouchi subway line) by calling AMDA (English service for matching doctors to patients by languange and location - they even will make the appointment for you) 03-5285-8088
The surgery was $2800 Canadian, but can be found for $1500 for both eyes (including weekend accomadation). Apparently it is really popular with Americans, but might not be at the moment with the current exchange.
This doctor doesn't perform Lasik, but was able to take care of my post-op checkups.

Hi, Can any one suggest a good and reliable eye Doctor who can speak little English. My 12 year old son need to get his yearly eye glasses examined. I live near Iidabashi area. Thanks

Hi Ben,
I cannot find your private email, hence I am posting this info here. Sorry for the late reply because both my kids were down with colds and flu.
Anyhow this is the contact for eye clinic:
Showa Do
1-42-6 Yayoicho, Nakano-ku
Tel: 03-3373-1791
Mr. Naoya Tateno is a very nice and honest man. Best of luck, Tyng

Hi,
I am planning to book for lasik surgery with Shinagawa Lasik Surgery Clinic.I hear that place is by far the cheapest;is it true?Is there anybody there who can speak English?Or to any one who has done Lasik, could you recommend a clinic that caters to English-speaking foreigners?

Greetin's,

I am looking for a behavioral optometrist / Visual Training Optometrics Doctor (VTOD) in the Tokyo/Saitama area. If anyone here knows one, I'd very much appreciate that info. So far, I have only been able to find one in Japan, and he's in Nagoya (definitely not my neighborhood). Thanks for any help in advance.

Greetin's,

I am looking for a behavioral optometrist / Visual Training Optometrics Doctor (VTOD) in the Tokyo/Saitama area. If anyone here knows one, I'd very much appreciate that info. So far, I have only been able to find one in Japan, and he's in Nagoya (definitely not my neighborhood). Thanks for any help in advance.