Hey! Happy pride everyone! Who wants to know how much it costs to become a cute anime girl?
I'm coming up on two years since I started my transition, and I have SRS scheduled for just over the anniversary mark. Just for fun I tallied up everything I've spent so far on medical transition. This includes estimates for the next few months, up to and including surgery. All prices are in Japanese Yen.
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| HRT (DIY) | 58,180 | Estrogen gel |
| GID diagnosis | 22,670 | Required for prescription HRT |
| HRT (prescription) | 353,280 | |
| Laser hair removal | 65,880 | 6 sessions, face |
| Name change | 800 | I'm a Japanese citizen so I had to apply to the courts here |
| Electrolysis | 1,499,080 | ~12 hrs prep for SRS and ~12 hrs face |
| SRS approval | 48,990 | Not fun |
| SRS consult | 33,860 | inc. estimates for blood work |
| SRS | 2,090,000 | PIV; Japanese hospital |
| Total | 4,172,740 |
I think I'm pretty much done with electrolysis, although I expect there will be a long tail tidying up. None of this is covered by insurance (with a long and stupid footnote I can go into another time), but it is at least tax deductible. Going forward, HRT will cost about ¥8,000 per month, reduced by 70% once I can change my legal gender and can start using insurance.
Notably this does not include:
- travel costs (substantial in my case since I live way out in the countryside)
- clothes
- cosmetics
- hitting up other girls in lesbian bars
Of course how much it costs depends a lot on what route you choose to take, so this is very much only a guideline! Let me know if you have any questions <3
Thanks for sharing all that, that's super interesting. I hope you don't mind is I ask a few questions. I don't know anything about healthcare in Japan, if and what is public, and what is private.
When you talk about insurance, do you mean a private health insurance that you pay for?
And are those 70% you mention at the end also from a private health insurance?
I love questions!
There's a national health insurance and pension system in Japan that everyone is required to join (it's a bit more complicated than that, but never mind). The fees are based on your previous year's income.
Most clinics and hospitals accept this insurance, and for most people it covers 70% of the cost of healthcare (more in certain cases). Prices are set by the government as a condition of participating. There's a maximum out-of-pocket limit too, so you're covered if you have a long hospital stay or whatever.
However, only approved treatments can be used under this scheme, and cosmetic, experimental, and off-label treatments aren't covered. Some clinics specializing in these don't bother joining the system and set their own prices.
You can get private insurance as well, of course, but there's not much point.
Thank you for the clarification! I wasn't sure whether Japan mostly operated on a public healthcare like in the EU or private healthcare like in the US.
It's a topic I find super interesting and Universal Healthcare is under attack by neoliberals and other right wing political actors about everywhere it's been enacted like my own country, France. So it is very interesting to learn about how it work in other places.