Hello dear readers,
Today, today I’m writing these lines to share a personal story about enduring tendonitis in Japan for over a year while working in Japan. As of today, June 4, 2026, I have been working at Miyake Shoukai Company in Fukuoka Prefecture for a little over a year, starting back on May 26, 2025.
1. A Year at Miyake: Factory Electrical Work is No Walk in the Park
Miyake Shoukai is the largest local construction company in Yukuhashi City. Here, I work as an assistant to professional, seasoned electricians. My daily routine revolves around pulling heavy factory cables, wiring offices, installing sockets, switches, and handling various odd jobs. It might sound simple on paper, but the reality is incredibly exhausting and high-pressure. Beyond the sheer physical demand, memorizing the Japanese names for all the tools and components is a massive hurdle, especially with my limited Japanese. It keeps the workplace atmosphere constantly tense.
2. Lingering Pain and Physical Limits
The hardship shows clearly through the aches in my body. Every time we pull giant electrical cables at a factory, my hands throb with pain for an entire month before easing up. When installing switches or outlets, I have to use raw fingertip strength to yank out wires pre-routed inside the walls. Doing this repeatedly means my hands are almost always hurting.
For the first eight months, a dull pain radiated from my shoulder down to my hands and fingers. There were times the deep bone-aching pain made work impossible, but then it would subside, so I pushed through. However, moving into January 2026, things took a turn for the worse. The pain became constant. My index finger would swell up like a balloon; a mere accidental touch would trigger a sharp, breathtaking flash of pain. The torment kept cycling: from my index finger to my thumb, from my thumb to my ring finger, and shifting from my right hand to my left.
3. Breaking Point and the Doctor’s Visit
The breaking point came on Saturday, May 23, 2026. My index finger turned swollen and red, throbbing so intensely through the night that it gave me a fever. Since clinics in Japan close on Sundays, I asked the company for Monday morning off (May 25, 2026) to see a doctor. That morning, even though the swelling had gone down and the pain was duller than on Saturday night, I was determined to find the root cause.
Since my Japanese isn’t fluent, I wrote down all my symptoms on my phone to show the doctor. I also mentioned a pain in my neck. After a neck X-ray, the doctor suspected the neck issue was radiating down to my hand. He prescribed Loxoprofen (a 60mg painkiller) along with Vitamin B12 for a week and scheduled a follow-up.
After the check-up, I went straight back to the construction site for the afternoon shift. I endured the pain all week just to finish my duties. But by Saturday afternoon, right after getting home from work, my finger flared up and swelled just like before. The following Monday morning, I returned to the clinic. Seeing my swollen hand and the agony on my face, the doctor finally realized the severity. He diagnosed me with severe tendonitis and administered a localized injection. In immense pain and knowing I couldn’t work that afternoon, I asked him for a medical certificate to take time off. He was very understanding and signed me off for a full week of rest.
4. Kindness of the Bosses and Worries for the Future
Right after, I messaged the company about my one-week medical leave. To my surprise and deep gratitude, Director Miyake himself came over to my rented room to check on me, kindly saying, “Just rest up and get well.” His wife, who serves as the Vice Director, also advised me to use my paid leave days to rest. Even though I know it’s a legal right, I felt bad—getting paid without working just didn’t sit right with me, so I politely declined.
I understand my body. This pain comes from sheer overload. Working six days a week with only one day off gives my body zero time to recover. I have a feeling that when I return next week, the pain will come right back. If it does, I plan to find a larger hospital specializing in orthopedics for a definitive cure. But if even a major hospital can’t fix it, I might have to seriously consider resigning. I can’t keep taking days off, disrupting the work progress, affecting my coworkers, and troubling Miyake Company.
Just recently, Miyake handed out new summer uniforms—two sets of clothes and two T-shirts. I’ve left them neatly tucked away in a corner, not daring to wash them yet. My mind is a storm of anxieties, wondering if I can continue this journey with the company. If worst comes to worst and I have to quit, I will return them completely intact so they can change the name tags for someone else. The sheer kindness the directors have shown me is immense (much like the warmth I shared in my post about my 37th birthday in Japan). It makes my heart ache and fills me with hesitation every time I think about saying goodbye…
