Cancer in Japan

Counts by age from the national file. The count for ages 15 to 39 is Dooram's sum of the file's five age groups.

The National Cancer Center's page for children and young people gives a rounder figure:

“小児（0～14歳）で約2,000例”

In English, Dooram's translation: “About 2,000 cases in children (aged 0 to 14)”

Japan names 15 hospitals as its centres for children's cancer, as of 1 April 2023.

Sources: 国立がん研究センターがん情報サービス (National Cancer Center Japan, Cancer Information Service), がん統計 データダウンロード (cancer statistics, data downloads (national and prefecture counts 2016 to 2023, survival 2016 to 2018)), read 17 October 2026. 国立がん研究センターがん情報サービス (National Cancer Center Japan, Cancer Information Service), 小児・AYA世代のがん罹患 (cancer in children, adolescents and young adults), read 17 October 2026. 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), がん診療連携拠点病院等 (designated cancer hospitals), read 17 October 2026.

A count of every death in Japan, by cause, from the ministry's yearly statistics. Cancer was 23.9 in every 100 deaths.

Deaths from each kind of cancer are not shown yet. They were read twice, but from a spreadsheet saved with write protection; they wait for a clean reading of the ministry's own table.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 令和６年（2024）人口動態統計（確定数）の概況 (vital statistics for 2024, final figures), Table 8, read 17 October 2026.

• Five years, found 2014 and 2015447 hospitals, 942,717 patients, net survival66.2 in 100
• Five years, found 2014 and 2015The same hospitals, alive at five years60.3 in 100
• Ten years, found 2012361 hospitals, net survival54.0 in 100

These come only from the designated cancer hospitals that sent figures, not from the whole country. Net survival counts only deaths from the cancer; "alive at five years" counts every death.

Source: 国立がん研究センターがん情報サービス (National Cancer Center Japan, Cancer Information Service), 院内がん登録生存率集計 (the designated cancer hospitals' survival reports, diagnosed 2014 to 2015 and 2012), read 17 October 2026.

The share of people with cancer alive five years on, divided by the share of people of the same age and sex across Japan who are alive five years on: the publisher's own measure, relative survival (相対生存率).

So 64.8 does not mean 64.8 in 100 people are alive; it means people with cancer were 64.8% as likely to be alive as everyone else of their age and sex. It covers the whole country and describes a large group, not any one person's chance.

Source: 国立がん研究センターがん情報サービス (National Cancer Center Japan, Cancer Information Service), がん統計 データダウンロード (cancer statistics, data downloads (national and prefecture counts 2016 to 2023, survival 2016 to 2018)), survival 2016 to 2018, read 17 October 2026.

The publisher's groups are 限局 (still where it began) and 遠隔 (spread to distant parts of the body). Its other groups, cancers that had spread nearby and cancers whose spread is not known, were not read twice and are not drawn, so the two bars do not add to 100.

Source: 国立がん研究センターがん情報サービス (National Cancer Center Japan, Cancer Information Service), がん統計 データダウンロード (cancer statistics, data downloads (national and prefecture counts 2016 to 2023, survival 2016 to 2018)), survival 2016 to 2018, read 17 October 2026.

Rates are counted as if every prefecture had the same mix of ages (adjusted for age), so a prefecture with more old people is not ranked higher for that alone. A prefecture's rate is not any one person's risk.

Japan's 272.6 is the prefecture file's own row, so all three come from one file; the national file gives 272.5.

Only the prefectures read twice are drawn here; the file has all 47. Dooram has read no authority saying why one prefecture is higher than another, so it gives no reason.

Source: 国立がん研究センターがん情報サービス (National Cancer Center Japan, Cancer Information Service), がん統計 データダウンロード (cancer statistics, data downloads (national and prefecture counts 2016 to 2023, survival 2016 to 2018)), prefecture counts, read 17 October 2026.

The ministry designates hospitals to give cancer care. The kinds are its own: 都道府県がん診療連携拠点病院 (prefecture), 地域 (regional), 地域（特例型） (regional, special type), 地域がん診療病院 (regional cancer care) and 特定領域 (one kind of cancer).

The 468 were the same on 1 April 2026. The 15 children's cancer hospitals are listed as of 1 April 2023, the newest list the ministry links.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), がん診療連携拠点病院等 (designated cancer hospitals), read 17 October 2026.

The ministry lists 19 hospitals for proton treatment and 7 for heavy-ion treatment, as of September 2026. These are hospitals approved for that advanced treatment, not a count of every machine.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 先進医療を実施している医療機関の一覧 (hospitals giving advanced treatment), read 17 October 2026.

A linear accelerator aims beams of radiation at a tumour. The ministry counts them with microtrons, an older kind, in one row. Machines for very narrowly aimed radiation are counted apart and are not in this figure. Clinics are not in the count, only general hospitals.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 令和５年医療施設（静態・動態）調査 (survey of medical institutions, 2023), Table 11, read 17 October 2026.

• Yamagata66.7
• Japan48.5
• Tokushima39.4

Adults aged 40 to 69 screened in the past year, 2025. The highest and lowest prefectures were read twice; the file has all 47.

Source: 国立がん研究センターがん情報サービス (National Cancer Center Japan, Cancer Information Service), がん検診受診率 (cancer screening rates), read 17 October 2026.

People's own answers to a national survey, so the card is marked Reported. Each cancer has its own ages and period:

• LungAges 40 to 69, in the past year52.4 in 100
• StomachAges 50 to 69, in the past two years51.2 in 100
• BreastWomen aged 40 to 69, in the past two years51.0 in 100
• BowelAges 40 to 69, in the past year48.5 in 100
• CervixWomen aged 20 to 69, in the past two years46.1 in 100

The goal, in the publisher's words:

“「がん対策推進基本計画（令和5年、第4期）」において60％以上の達成が個別目標の一つ”

In English, Dooram's translation: “In the Basic Plan to Promote Cancer Control (2023, fourth plan), reaching 60% or more is one of the individual goals”

Source: 国立がん研究センターがん情報サービス (National Cancer Center Japan, Cancer Information Service), がん検診受診率 (cancer screening rates), read 17 October 2026.

“HPVワクチンは、平成25（2013）年６月から、積極的な勧奨を一時的に差し控えていましたが、令和３（2021）年11月に、専門家の評価により「HPVワクチンの積極的勧奨を差し控えている状態を終了させることが妥当」とされ、令和４（2022）年４月から、他の定期接種と同様に、個別の勧奨を行っています。”

In English, Dooram's translation: “From June 2013 active recommendation of the HPV vaccine was temporarily withheld; in November 2021 experts judged it appropriate to end that; since April 2022 individual recommendation has been made, as for other routine vaccinations.”

The ministry's page does not say why the recommendation was withheld, so Dooram does not either.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), ヒトパピローマウイルス感染症 (human papillomavirus infection), read 17 October 2026.

Women who missed the vaccine may have it later. Two of the ministry's pages give different birth years for them:

“平成9年度生まれ～平成20年度生まれの女性”

In English, Dooram's translation: “Women born in fiscal 1997 to fiscal 2008”

“平成９年度生まれ～平成19年度生まれ（誕生日が1997年4月2日～2008年4月1日）”

In English, Dooram's translation: “Born in fiscal 1997 to fiscal 2007 (birthdays 2 April 1997 to 1 April 2008)”

Dooram shows both and picks neither.

Sources: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), HPVワクチンのキャッチアップ接種 (the HPV vaccine for those who missed it), read 17 October 2026. 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 定期の予防接種実施者数 (routine vaccinations given), the table's note, read 17 October 2026.

HPV stands for human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer of the cervix.

The ministry's word is 実施率, the rate of doses given in the year. Dooram reads it as that, not as the share of all girls who have had the vaccine.

The fiscal 2024 figure is the nine-valent vaccine's first dose alone; the older two- and four-valent vaccines add 0.7 in the same year.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 定期の予防接種実施者数 (routine vaccinations given), read 17 October 2026.

Palliative care eases pain and other suffering when an illness cannot be cured. A ward is a part of a hospital set aside for it.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 令和５年医療施設（静態・動態）調査 (survey of medical institutions, 2023), Table 16, read 17 October 2026.