On a recent weekday, a group of seven non-Japanese students headed for a blood donation site in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward operated by the Japanese Red Cross Tokyo Metropolitan Blood Center.

The students are enrolled at Shinjuku Japanese Language Institute, a school based in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward.

An interpreter from the language school accompanied the students on Sept. 15. 

A worker at the blood collection site briefed the students on precautions.

The prospective donors answered questions on their previous overseas stays and their medical histories before they took a Japanese-language questionnaire on a touchscreen.

The questions included whether they had contracted the measles during the past three weeks and whether any of their family members had developed hepatitis during the past month.

They also underwent interviews with doctors, again in Japanese.

“The medical interview was more detailed than what is typical in China,” said Zhang Zhikai, a 23-year-old Chinese.

Vlada Stepanova, a 24-year-old Russian, said she was treated to ice cream after she finished donating blood.

“I was surprised at the good service,” said Stepanova.

Three of the seven students, however, were not allowed to donate their blood.

Sandy Chow, a 37-year-old Canadian, was one of them. She was told that a blood test had shown she had hemoglobin levels below the standard.

Two French citizens were blocked by restrictions concerning details of the overseas stays.

Chow had visited blood donation sites in Tokyo three times after she came to Japan in April last year, only to be refused on all those occasions. She was told she had to be able to fully understand the medical terms in Japanese.

Chow said she had donated blood on dozens of occasions in her home country because volunteering to offer her own blood without compensation makes her feel that she is helping others.

Eager to do the same in Japan, Chow had asked officials of Shinjuku Japanese Language Institute to assist her. 

Chow said, as she left the venue, that she was very much disappointed. Maybe the next time, she said.

“I think it’s difficult for foreign students to understand all this in Japanese,” said the language school’s official, who helped the students as an interpreter.

NO DISCRIMINATION IN SCREENING

The students were among the growing number of foreign residents in Japan eager to donate their blood while living away from their home countries, as a contribution to their host nation.

But many face obstacles such as the language barrier and previous overseas trips and possible exposure to diseases before becoming blood donors. 

Officials of the Japanese Red Cross Society said they have set strict eligibility standards for blood donors, both to ensure donor health and to enhance recipient safety.

For example, those who stayed for a total of six months or more in France, Germany, Spain and a number of other countries between 1980 and 2004 are prohibited from donating blood, regardless of their citizenship, because of the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

The eligibility standards are wide-ranging and include not only the would-be donors’ physical condition on the day of donation but also if they have ever contracted any of a number of specific diseases and whether they previously lived in specific areas affected by infectious diseases.

“We do not distinguish between Japanese and others in accepting donors,” a Red Cross official said.

The official added that only “those who can communicate in Japanese" (including under the assistance of an interpreter) are eligible to donate blood because a donation site may not have a foreign language speaker among its workers.

No application form or explanatory note is available in foreign languages.

Communication by dialogue is used while collecting blood and checking on post-donation changes in the donor’s physical condition, to “ensure blood safety and donor security,” the official said.

NEPALIS’ GROUP BLOOD DONATION CAMPAIGNS

One community of foreign residents in Japan, in the meantime, has staged campaigns to donate blood in groups.

The Non-Resident Nepali Association’s National Coordination Council Japan, as the community is called, has been helping its members donate their blood, in the company of interpreters, in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and elsewhere annually since 2017.

More than 2,000 people have so far donated blood as part of the campaigns, NRNA Japan officials said.

“I want people to know that so many Nepalis have contributed to Japan,” said Sangita Adhikari, 39, former vice president of NRNA Japan, who has played a key role in the campaigns.

“It is not easy for non-Japanese to donate their blood on an individual basis, so it’s better for would-be donors to go to donation sites in groups in the company of interpreters,” added Adhikari.