Dive Insurance for japan residents

[soldave]

That's really bizarre that DAN USA would impose that restriction whereas DAN Europe extend the insurance to European nationals, regardless of location. Interesting...

 

[TJO]

That's what I understood as well. It would be a bummer to have them refuse to pay out if something happened and they realized that you were resident somewhere else!
DAN Japan sucks IMO.

Hi Kim, I think DAN J are doing some things right. They make one of the few diving medicine physicians available for consultation, have pretty good service, insurance is cheaper than Europe, conduct and sponsor some research... They also were crucial making it possible to make O2 available for us. Some products are awfully expensive though...

 

[Kim]

Hi Kim, I think DAN J are doing some things right. They make one of the few diving medicine physicians available for consultation, have pretty good service, insurance is cheaper than Europe, conduct and sponsor some research... They also were crucial making it possible to make O2 available for us. Some products are awfully expensive though...

Obviously it's just my opinion but DAN Japan simply doesn't offer the same level of service that DAN "Anywhere else" does. It's a second class, possibly twice removed, cousin. Of course their insurance is cheaper - it hardly covers anything compared to DAN USA, or DAN Europe. As an earlier poster stated - if you live in Japan then (in my experience) you get told you don't qualify for other DAN area membership. Now we've been told that if you have a European nationality (I'm British), then you CAN join a decent scheme. I have still to check that out, but it's the first I heard of it. FWIW maybe YOU can get O2....but here in Fukuoka province it's a medicinal gas which divers can't get. I don't know of a single fill station anywhere here that can supply even Nitrox recreational gas (up to 40%). Maybe DAN Japan works better for you guys up in Tokyo....but it really doesn't extend far past the city limits so for me it's pretty useless.

Maybe they should just call themselves "DAN Tokyo" and be done with it! To my mind it's not really a "network" if it can't produce some sort of consistency wherever you are on the planet. (or wherever you are just in Japan!)

 

[Geoff_H]

I am covered by DAN Japan. As I am a British citizen, I tried to go through DAN Europe but they refused to cover me as I am resident in Japan.

All the paperwork is in Japanese though, so I am not too sure what it covers.

 

[soldave]

I think you can get O2 in Okinawa, even outside the military bases. And although you can't get Nitrox mixes off base, that's nothing to do with DAN really.


And it's definately the case that DAN Europe insurance covers European citizens wherever they are in the world (I remember calling them asking about it when I was shopping for diving, and later, liability insurance in Japan)

Geoff - I'm really surprised you were refused as DAN Europe happily accepted me when I explained the situation to them.

 

[Kim]

I think you can get O2 in Okinawa, even outside the military bases. And although you can't get Nitrox mixes off base, that's nothing to do with DAN really.


And it's definately the case that DAN Europe insurance covers European citizens wherever they are in the world (I remember calling them asking about it when I was shopping for diving, and later, liability insurance in Japan)

Geoff - I'm really surprised you were refused as DAN Europe happily accepted me when I explained the situation to them.

Well I'm going to investigate this further and I'm not saying that you're wrong - just that MY experience is the same as Geoff who posted just before you.

As to the O2 thing....AFAIK this is a province dependant thing - Okinawa does have O2 available....Fukuoka doesn't. That's actually what I mean...if DAN J was worth it's salt then they would ensure that something like that was at least equally treated throughout Japan....(or at least IMO!)

 

[Geoff_H]

I guess different people in DAN Europe giving different stories on different days. I will try again when I come to renew, but I remember they were pretty clear about it. I didn't keep the emails but it was an Italian name.

My experience was exactly the same as Mushroom King - any DAN region membership covers you worldwide for diving, but you can only sign up in your country of residence. I remember I took it out in June 2006, before my trip to Truk.

Did you register with your address in Japan or in the UK?

 

[soldave]

My address is my Japanese one, and I've been registered as a DAN Europe member here since September 2005.

 

[Geoff_H]

The plot grows thicker!

Perhaps we shoul contact DAN Europe again and get some clarification!

 

[Geoff_H]

I popped a quick mail to info@daneurope.org

Hi there,

I am a British / European citizen, and I am currently living in Japan.

I would like to join DAN Europe and take the insurance option.

There seems to be some confusion as to whether it is possible to do this, with different people having different results. Would you be able to clarify whether I (and other people in the same situation) are eligible to join?

cheers
Geoff