Many health care professionals in Japan may face growing communication difficulties due to the governmental growth strategy released in 2010 aiming to increase the capacity to care for non-Japanese speaking patients. This article describes what is currently known about the language barriers in health care so that health care stakeholders can improve their cross-linguistic and cultural services. Three areas will be discussed in terms of how they affect health care: 1) language barriers, 2) health care interpreting, and 3) cultural competence of health care providers. Specific research recommendations are also discussed in each area.