I went out to Japan for the interview in April so was one of the first who had to pay for their own accommodation & transport. It's not very much, but in the scheme of things it does seem petty.
My airfare was re-imbursed within a few days both times (I had to return to Japan to re-do a medical test and the accommodation was free this time).
The medical check was all done at one clinic. Apparently it's a new one they've only recently started using.
The reason given for having to pay up-front was that in the past they had a lot of no-shows. Nice little paid city-break, I guess. As usual a small number of people have ruined it for the rest of us.