wanderingstar

Hello,

Heading to Japan in 3 days. I planned this trip months in advance and read online that I was okay with medication without a yakkan shoumei (some obscure permission form for medication) since, according to the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Labour website, I can bring up to a "one month supply" of sleep medication, no problem.

Great, right?

Sigh... a few days ago, I read online that this was a specific amount! I had no idea until then. None. Zero. I have an American prescription for medications in a higher dose than what Japan considers "a month." Not uppers or narcotics or opiates but a sleeping pill. All in the original bottles, with the prescribing info on them. If one does the math, it's clear that it's for a month (e.g. "Take 1 pill a day, 3x per day" and that equals a month).

So I didn't know I'd need a yakkan shoumei, and now I am a limp mess about customs. It's all unclear online.

Do I cancel the whole trip? It's all not refundable, of course. I've never had anything like this come up before. Ever. I've been abroad plenty as well.

The bureaucracy online for Japan and meds is really hard to piece together and it really just says "up to a month" etc. etc. etc. so I made the assumption that I'd be okay bringing less than that, as prescribed?

Will it be okay?

It's over the limit, but not by all that much. Maybe twice the limit, which is conveniently written almost nowhere online except in Japanese. I literally noticed it only because it was mentioned on a website somewhere in English. And I was stunned. I hadn't seen it mentioned otherwise.

I just can't get a good feel for how concerned I should be. I can see that Japan is very unyielding about uppers and sudafed, narcotics and opiates, but this isn't any of these. It's not prohibited, and it's not uncommonly prescribed in Japan, just at a lower dose than in the U.S. but it is a sleeping pill and technically a controlled substance, but a really boring one. But technically I should have a yakkan shoumei, although no time now for that.

I'm not planning to go without sleep for my vacation, so that idea is out.

Tourists must do this kind of thing all the time by accident, right? Customs must be used to it?

Talk me down or else tell me I should be worried enough to cancel the trip and eat a few thousand bucks and my whole year's vacation because I don't know what to do here or what's even likely. I thought I'd researched this to death, but I never thought to check what a "one month supply" was (it's not on any English site that I have ever seen, actually, just apparently in Japanese on a .pdf that someone mentioned on a forum). I figured it was what it sounded like: medication, prescribed, for one month's time.

This is all really messing with me, so thanks for your insight about "traveling with slightly too much otherwise legal, restricted but not prohibited, medication" to Japan.

What do they even do if they stop you at customs for this kind of thing, or is that just unlikely at all? Again, from what I've read online, I cannot get a read on this situation. People either say it's very serious, to the point that I freak out, or they talk about drug smuggling oxycodone. It's not either of those situations though...

A vacation is supposed to be relaxing! Thanks for your experiences.

I'm just taking carry-on, BTW. Unsure if that even matters. And of course it's obvious the medication is for a month because the math is on the bottle, which is marked and all that stuff.

Doc Savage

Why don't you go with a supply sufficient for your trip. I assume you're not going for a full month.

Honesty is always the best policy. Answer any questions at entry truthfully.

wanderingstar

Thank you, Doc Savage. I'm not convinced honesty is the best policy in life. You are more an optimist than I am with that attitude! But maybe it is best in this case. It really is an odd thing. There is conflicting information online, on the official websites, even, so I assume it will come down to how cranky or nice the customs official is.

But no, I am not going for a full month.

Doc Savage

So just take enough for your stay plus a day or two. Have a great trip!

wanderingstar

That's what I was planning on doing, but then I got confused because Japan says it's more than a months worth, but only if you literally count it out by the milligram, and even then, it's pretty confusing.

My husband is a lawyer, he finally went through the websites after telling me to calm down all day, and he couldn't figure it out either and so now I'm laughing at him. I mean, he's not a Japanese lawyer, but he can't figure out why the documents and online information all contradict each other either. He says he doesn't think it's clear at all now and is unsure even they know.

So I don't guess customs will bother too much with me.

I'm going to just go enjoy my trip now, thanks!

abmj-jr

For what it is worth, every time I have entered Japan with only a carry-on bag (which is every time,) my bag has never even been looked at. Before I learned what was and was not allowed, I inadvertently entered with both pseudofed and Vicodin. Never been stopped, never a problem, in well over a dozen entries. Of course, I look like someone's jii-san (grandpa) and not a drug mule.

Just take what you need for your stay, in the prescription bottle, and enjoy your vacation.

evergrn

Having read the posts thus far, I would make the following comments:

1). Honesty is usually the best policy, and it is always technically and officially the correct advice. In reality, though, do you tell everyone who needs occasional Sudafed (the kind with pseudoephedrine) to go through the application process? So I think it comes down to common sense, your disposition/philosophy, what you foresee as the potential consequence/impact if you were busted for it.

2). I would caution against failing to declare things you're supposed to when entering Jpn... even if chances of bag search are miniscule. Despite all these years of traveling multiple times a year to Jpn, I could never exactly remember the questions on the Jpn custom form. Nonetheless I'm fairly certain it asks whether you're bringing in opioids with you. I think it might also ask about psychtropics, or maybe they specify them as stimulants and benzo's. If it's just Sudafed for allergies, common sense may dictate that it's reasonable to not have it occur to you as something "worth" declaring. On the other hand, how do you defend yourself if you get busted with Vicodin after saying 'no' to the question on the customs form?

3). The Yakkan Shoumei documents/instructions, to me, are pretty clear and straightforward for most part. The only part that's ambiguous to me is how they define the stimulant strength cutoff that requires declaration, but that is not relevant to the OP. For instance, you can bring in up to 300mg Ambien (zolpidem)... so if you take 10mg qhs, then you can bring in up to 30 days' worth without going through the process.

http://www.seattle.us.emb-japan.go.j...p_20120314.pdf

OP: I don't know what you take (and how much), how long you're staying in Jpn, etc. But hypothetically let's say you need 10mg Ambien every night and you're staying in Jpn for 60 days. If you have a chance to talk to your doctor before you leave and explain your situation and show the above document, I'm sure he/she will be able to come up with a contingency plan that stays compliant without leaving you high and dry.

kb9522

It's a hell of a better policy than lying to a customs official. Do not lie to customs!

wanderingstar

Thanks everyone. This is calming me down a lot. Thus said, I am still nervous because there's all this stuff online about people being detained in Japan for Sudafed and stuff like that.

I do have one more question, for the moment: I keep reading it helps to carry "the original prescription." However, I've never seen anything like that -- like a tangible piece of paper -- here since the doctor just calls in the prescription to the pharmacy directly (I've had the same prescription for decades).

Are the receipts from the pharmacy plus the prescription info on the bottle sufficient? I hope so, because the doctor is out of town, and his staff said they couldn't give me a letter, they could just call the pharmacy.

On the medication bottle, it has my name, the doctor's name and location, the pharmacy name and location, the date, the medication name and amount, and why it is prescribed. And I have the print outs from the pharmacy explaining side effects, use, and all that jazz that have my name and his name and etc. etc. on them.

I could drive the fifty miles to the doctor's and try to explain it to them, but I don't know if it's necessary?

Standard American prescription bottle has every single thing on it that the "original prescription" would have on it. Same with a letter from the doctor.

What's throwing me is how much differing info I read online. Everything from "Just go!" to "You will have your Vicks Vapo-rub confiscated and be jailed!" You can probably tell I'm not much of a risk taker.

I was being kind of... sarcastic and silly when I made the comment about honesty. Coming from the U.S., the TSA has me scared enough to know that you never mess with customs, ever. Maybe too much. Traveling through Europe, Turkey, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, and Oceania, I've never had a single problem with meds, ever. But this is my first time to Asia, and I'm finding out just a little belatedly that Japan has a "reputation" for being strict. And it's ramping my anxiety up badly, so thanks for talking me through this.

I could alter our trip for $400, apparently; I checked my ticket terms. That seems so absurd though, no? We've been looking forward to this vacation all year.

I'm being sarcastic again about being detained for Sudafed, BTW! I've only heard of it being confiscated. Sorry, gallows humor since I am just a little nervous. It's such a long flight, for one thing, nearly 24 hours in transit time with the layovers, I never sleep on the flight (don't laugh; I know it's ironic but true), and I am also a super, super anxious flier. So by the time I am even dealing with all of this and customs, I'm probably going to be fried to a crisp.

I'm new to FlyerTalk although I've been reading it FOREVER because it's a fantastic forum for info, and I have a lot of flight stories, actually, and while not a frequent traveler, I might take a dozen flights a year and go abroad once or twice, generally.

This overlooked "yakkan shoumei" thing is the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever dealt with yet. Hands down.

Doc Savage

Take your meds in the original bottles with the identifying information.

Bringing a reasonable amount of your meds with you is not going to anger the customs officials. Not being forthcoming or trying to hide them will elicit anger.

The worst I can imagine happening if you behave reasonably is that the meds might be confiscated, and that would be a stretch. Just don't hide anything, and you'll be fine.

wanderingstar

Hi Doc, what do you mean though by hiding them? I'm not sure how one would do that, but it's been brought up a few times now. I want to be 100% sure to NOT do that. It is my intent to just get through customs and yes, the amount is reasonable in that it's under a month U.S. prescription from my long-term family doctor.

I plan to put them in the original bottle in a ziploc bag in my purse, which is how I've always carried them when traveling. That is the right way, correct?


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Doc Savage

Not hiding them means answering customs questions truthfully, and producing the meds if asked.

Chances are very good you'll never be asked anything about them.

kb9522

Settle down. The sky is not falling.

MSPeconomist

If you confidently walk through customs with a USA passport in hand when entering Japan, chances are you won't be stopped or questioned beyond the immigration checks for how long you're staying and purpose of trip.

evergrn

OP, I do think you need to calm down, and take the time to understand the Yakkan Shoumei rules and understand what we are saying.

I looked up the Japnaese customs form. On the back, the relevant question for you is "Do you currently having her possessions narcotics, marijuana, opium, stimulants, or other drugs, swords, explosives or other such items?"

1).As long as you're not taking opioids or cannabis to sleep, you should be able to safely check off NO to that question. (Yes it does say "other drugs," but Tylenol and Zantac are technically drugs also, and I really doubt travelers carrying those are checking off NO to that question.)

2).If whatever sleep med you take is on the list of psychotropics on that above link I pasted and you're bringing in less than the specified limit amount, then you should be fine.

Just relax and enjoy the trip. Otherwise I'm afraid you might end up doing/saying something weird at customs.