Bringing medication and supplements (and cosmetics!) to Japan

[mojo]

This came up earlier but I finally got around to doing some research. First, reference material:

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/policy/health-medical/pharmaceuticals/01.html

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/policy/health-medical/pharmaceuticals/dl/qa2.pdf

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/policy/health-medical/pharmaceuticals/dl/Ingredients_name.pdf

 

The short version is that as far as medication goes you can bring it as long as

 

A) It's legal in Japan.

B) Max 1 month supply.

 

If you need more than a 1 month supply, you have to get a Yunyu Kakunin-sho BEFORE you leave home.

 

I note is says you can even import a month's supply of "deadly poison" if you can somehow get a Yunyu Kakunin-sho for it.

 

Perhaps more relevant is the limitation on cosmetics - a maximum of 24 of any given item. I don't know enough about cosmetics to say if that is an issue... Are there any single use ones you might want to use every day?

 

This is potentially an issue for me, as my next trip is 36 days in Japan. I was thinking I'll just take 31 days worth of medication and ration it a bit, but if you arrive with a return flight in 36 days then arguably whatever you are carrying is a 36 day supply. I've actually carried it through customs at least a dozen times without declaring it with no issue, even when I had to open my bag. My impression is that they don't care as long there isn't a huge amount of it, and it does say "take 1 a day" on the label.

 

I take some supplements (vitamins and plant extracts) but you can bring up to 2 months of those in. It's a bit daft anyway because what counts as a 1 month supply is indeterminate - many offer well in excess of 100% RDA and at most suggest "one or five a day" on the bottle. Again, this doesn't seem to be strictly enforced - I've taken bottles of 90 tablets through inspection without issue, already opened and they didn't seem interested in counting how many were left in there.

 

The same goes for over-the-counter medication like Ibuprofen, but again it's questionable what a "2 month supply" is. Typically adults are recommended to take 500mg, up to 4 times a day, in the UK. That's 496 tablets for a 62 day supply, which I have a feeling may draw some questions from the customs officer. But you can buy Ibuprofen in Japan anyway, so my suggestion would be to just bring what you need for the flight, and then head to the nearest くすりや. A popular, if expensive, brand is Buffrin.

 

The only other things to watch out for are the usual food items and weapons. Oh, and cash. There is a limit of 1,000,000 yen, which is currently approximately:

 

€6,300

£5,400

$6,700

 

Keep an eye on the exchange rate, as one time back in the good old days when you could get 240 yen/£ I did end up taking just shy of a million to cover all hotel and travel costs.

[katoftw]

 Didn't think this info was too difficult to find.

 

As with cosmetics, or any other consumable, they have a limits. But they will still question you say, if you bring in 20 of something and you are staying for a week etc.

 

One thing you didn't touch on, is that you can bring in prescription med of more than one months supply if you get prior approval. Again there would be a link also from the same website.

 

This is most likely be needed if you are gonna bring in enough aspin for four servings a day. That you be huge amounts compared to normal. And will save a lot of questioning at customs.

Edited September 10, 2023 by katoftw

[railsquid]

6 hours ago, mojo said:

The only other things to watch out for are the usual food items and weapons. Oh, and cash. There is a limit of 1,000,000 yen, which is currently approximately:

 

€6,300

£5,400

$6,700

 

You can bring in as much cash as you like. However if you have more than 1,000,000 yen, you need to report it.

[miyakoji]

7 hours ago, mojo said:

A) It's legal in Japan.

I think this is the catch.  What's legal in Japan?

 

iirc, some C-level exec got in trouble for taking an ADD medication into Japan, and for example pseudoephedrine is a controlled substance, so an OTC cold medication that's common in the US can't be taken into Japan.

 

I would research thoroughly on an item by item and country by country basis before traveling with any kind of medicine, even over-the-counter.

[mojo]

It would be very useful if someone could find a website where you can check what medications are legal in Japan.

 

Alternatively, one trick I use is to look up the medicine on Wikipedia in English, and then switch the language to Japanese. The Japanese article will mention if it is legal in Japan or not.

 

I was going to write about driving in Japan too, but accidentally closed the tab and lost the will to retype it all. The short version is that it's mostly quite easy, and most road signs include English now, or are very similar to the standard international ones*. The main exception is the stop sign. New ones will have English, but any predating about 2017 may just have the kanji 止.

 

Japan drives on the left, the same as the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, and a few others. It's not so bad if you are used to driving on the right, because Japan doesn't seem to have roundabouts. If it does I haven't seen any, but the term for them is "rotary" (ロータリー). Having driven in Europe (i.e. swapping left to right) you get used to it quickly.

 

* That doesn't help Americans because for some reason America doesn't use the international symbols.

[katoftw]

https://en.japantravel.com/guide/bringing-medicines-into-japan/58063

 

Just follow this. All the info you'll need. Also has links to those banned substances

[chadbag]

On 9/11/2023 at 9:41 AM, mojo said:

but the term for them is "rotary" (ロータリー).

Yes that is the proper name for them.

(what I grew up calling them in New England)

 

[railsquid]

On 9/12/2023 at 12:41 AM, mojo said:

Japan drives on the left, the same as the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, and a few others. It's not so bad if you are used to driving on the right, because Japan doesn't seem to have roundabouts. If it does I haven't seen any, but the term for them is "rotary" (ロータリー). Having driven in Europe (i.e. swapping left to right) you get used to it quickly.

 

FWIW the technical name is 環状交差点, while "ラウンドアバウト" is more commonly used. "Rotary" (ロータリー) generally refers to the one-way system in front of stations used by buses, taxis etc. (駅前ロータリー).

 

The Japanese Wikipedia has a couple of pictures of actual roundabouts in Japan: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ラウンドアバウト

[mojo]

8 hours ago, railsquid said:

 

FWIW the technical name is 環状交差点, while "ラウンドアバウト" is more commonly used. "Rotary" (ロータリー) generally refers to the one-way system in front of stations used by buses, taxis etc. (駅前ロータリー).

 

The Japanese Wikipedia has a couple of pictures of actual roundabouts in Japan: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ラウンドアバウト

 

Huh, so they do exist in Japan. I used to have my Nissan sat-nav set to Japanese, and it always referred to UK roundabouts as rotaries, but that could just be the sat nav software. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if they just made all rotaries in Japan into roundabouts in the software, to avoid adding a separate road feature for them.

 

I found that one from Wikipedia on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/63WbJ7uUR5eLDVNP8

 

It's there on Street View, but not on the satellite view. It looks like it was built prior to 2021, when the Street View photo was taken. Some older Street View imagery from 2014 shows the original junction. I wonder how well drivers cope with it, given how rare they are. I suppose if they are similar to rotaries then maybe it's not that hard.

[Yavaris Forge]

My Google Maps Japanese output also says "rotari" instead of roundabout.