Originally Posted by hfly
Look, perhaps the Japanese have a thing about Sudafed. If they do, the absolute worst that they could do IF they searched you, IF they found it and IF they wanted to do something about it is to either inform you of the rule and let you go, or take it from you. Assuming that you had no more than a bottle or pack of tablets, they would let you through, this is just the way things are.
Um... actually the absolute worst they could do is detain you incommunicado for 23 days while they pressure or simply beat a confession out of you, and then you're looking at an extended spell in Japan's notoriously horrible prisons. Unless, that is, you go crazy and start to beat your head against the cell wall so hard that your skull caves in... or, I mean, that's what the coroner's report said when somebody died in jail.
I wish I was kidding, but I'm not. Do not f*ck with Japanese customs or the police, because you basically have no rights if they arrest you for any reason.
Some links of interest:
http://www.debito.org/arrestperiods.html
http://www.hrw.org/research/japan.html
http://www.fccj.or.jp/modules/wfsect...97&category=22