TrojanHorse

When I travel domestically within the US I just take all my OTC (allegra, aspirin, ibuprofin) and Rx pills and take just enough for my trip and put them all in one aspirin bottle

Will this be a problem going thru customs in Japan?

How about if I just put OTCs in one container and keep the Rx in their regular RX container?

beep88

http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-medimport.html

RichardInSF

I've never had a problem with this, but you could be unlucky.

Naprosyn sodium is sold over the counter in Japan, as are acetaminophen and aspirin, in the same strength as in the USA. I don't believe Allegra is, but Contac is, albeit at half-strength compared to the US dosage.

The US Embassy link cited in the above post is overly conservative. For example, I've been bringing in both Actifed and Sudafed for more than a decade, so far (knock on wood!) without a problem.

abmj-jr

I was just going to caution about anything with peudophed as an ingredient until reading the above post. I have to say I also carried it for my first half dozen or so visits, before I became aware that it is not legal, with no problems. Then again, I have never even had my bags opened at Customs. I have no idea what would happen if they did find it but have switched to phenylephrine as a replacement, just to be safe. I'm not really all that concerned about OTC meds anyway. If I am going to get into trouble some day it will probably be for the prescription Vicodin I always carry, not some decongestant.

As a retired LEO, I will say that a bunch of different meds all in one aspirin bottle would trigger my suspicions - assuming I had a reason to be looking in the first place. I take my prescription meds in a plastic daily dispenser but also take the original prescription bottles, with the prescription labels, packed somewhere in my luggage. That is probably excessive but they do have the authority to ask to see the prescription. Again, I have never been asked.

tide

I mix 'em all up in one container but I take pictures of the prescription labels and store them on my phone.

Japanese pharmacies don't usually use US-style cylindrical containers anyway. Drugs seem to come in blister packs, powder or plastic resealable packets.

Taiwaned

In our case, if it was for personal use, in our medicine bag and its not a huge quantity, they don't care.

We just did a prescription medical run to Hong Kong and China. Brought back packs of Tylenol 3 codeine and a few other items that are on the not available in Japan list. We had no issues, we were stopped and asked, just told them it was foreign doctor prescribed medicine.

They questioned why I was bringing in 20 packs of diabetes medication, I explained it was so much cheaper from overseas. They just let us go.

Yub

After having kidney stones a few years ago, I usually travel with a few hydrocodone tablets, just in case it happens again while on the road.

When I first found out about the restriction on hydrocodone, I initially thought that a reasonable customs inspector could see that four hydrocodone tablets with a prescription are clearly for personal use and would allow them to pass. After more consideration, I began to feel that the "rules are rules" position would likely prevail, and decided that not to take hydrocodone with me when traveling to Japan. Also, the US Embassy in Japan has this on their website (http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-medimport.html):
I also found post #7 in this thread on TripAdvisor that convinces me even more to follow the rules on bringing medications into Japan:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...gal-Japan.html

I know that hydrocodone is one of the narcotics that can be brought in (and taken back out) with an approved Yakkan Shoumei certificate, but it is not worth the trouble for me.

ksandness

I'm not so sure about the Naprosyn sodium. I looked for it in vain on a pharmacy's shelves, and when I inquired at the pharmacists' counter, he said that it was by prescription only.

However, buffered aspirin, which is scarce here in the States, was plentiful, so I treated my arthritic joints with that.

When I got to Korea, where I don't speak more than a few words of the language, I tried to replenish my supplies of buffered aspirin, only to find that it wasn't sold in Korea, according to a pharmacist who spoke English.

Strange are the ways of drug laws.

BillYEG

The yakkan-shomei form appears complex at first encounter, but the Narita customs have a very helpful English language phone agent to help as required, during their business hours. The narcotics form is actually less complicated. Don't overlook your pharmacist as a resource. It is no longer necessary to do any of this by postal mail, email with pdf attachments is accepted and maybe even preferred. I suggest that travellers try to do this right, experience based on not being inspected is worse than useless, and potentially dangerous. Turnaround on applications seems to be remarkably fast, and the agents seem willing to work with applicants to fix oversights once the email exchanges begin. YMMV if they are especially busy. And don't forget the narcotics export form if you are going onward from JP, or expect to have a few contingency tabs left when heading home . Obviously, the count can only be an approximation for this, but they will address that when you leave. And try to allow an extra half hour for turning in the export form when leaving, if possible. It seems the number of risk-takers may greatly exceed those who try to follow the rules, but the stakes can be higher than most assume.

railroadtycoon

Allegra (Fexofenadine) is OTC in Japan.

TrojanHorse

As it is in the U.S. but I don't want to run afoul of customs either.

I want to bring Allegra (generic) and Claritin (Generic) with me. Plus aspirin and Ibuprofin.

I don't think there is anything else in my bag.