When Rayna Tsuchiya was going through her first pregnancy in Japan 13 years ago, she was fearful of going to prenatal checkups.

Originally from Thailand, she¡¯d heard horror stories about foreign women¡¯s maternity experiences, like being scolded for not knowing Japanese, being rejected by hospitals due to the language barrier or having to decipher complex paperwork.

¡°I felt uneasy every time, just thinking about how I¡¯d be treated,¡± she said.