I have had several relatives die from cancer and in the case of my mother, my sister and I were in charge of her pain management. Now my fiancé’s father is hospitalized with cancer and is suffering a great deal of pain. I had heard this in the past, but now am experiencing first-hand, the inclination of Japanese doctors to try to explain that a too much morphine or other painkiller is bad. This is ridiculous and very backwards. I am pulling strings to try to get better pain management for him. The level of control they give the family and approach to pain management in Japan compared to the US is extremely behind the times and I would suggest to anyone who has a loved one about to be hospitalized for something that requires strong painkillers to seriously consider going to the US if you can afford it. I may be over-generalizing and I would be curious to know if anyone has had any GOOD experiences in Japan with pain management or oncologists.