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societyAug 28, 202646:53pending

What it's like to live with invisible illnesses in Japan

Unpacking Japan

About this episode

Meet Hanna, an activist who has been living with chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as PTSD. She sits down to talk to us about her experiences living with invisible illness in Japan, and her views on Japan's medial and social welfare systems.


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0:00 Intro

0:26 Some context from Tobi

2:32 Meet Hanna

3:14 When her pain started

5:13 Response from doctors

7:40 Realizing her situation is not normal

9:39 Breaking free from her family

12:27 What are Hanna's illnesses?

13:50 Understanding her own life

15:08 Starting social media

17:37 Japanese health care/social support

20:04 Daily life for Hanna

23:13 Hanna's medication

24:37 Social media response

26:26 Has Hanna's messaged reached researchers?

28:58 What should change in Japan?

32:12 Starting a GoFundMe

38:31 Hanna's goals

39:59 Hanna's dreams

42:14 How Hanna experiences pain

44:41 Dealing with prejudice

45:44 Message from Hanna


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Follow Hanna:

@hanna_with_pain

https://www.instagram.com/hanna_with_pain

https://www.tiktok.com/@hanna_with_pain


Follow us:

https://unpacking.jp/

https://www.instagram.com/unpacking_japan

https://www.tiktok.com/@unpackingjapan

https://www.facebook.com/unpackingjapan

https://www.youtube.com/@unpackingjapanshorts

https://www.x.com/unpacking_japan

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/unpackingjapan


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What it's like to live with invisible illnesses in Japan

Unpacking Japan

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