Eurynom0s

Hi, I'm traveling to Japan next month and know I need to submit a Yunyu Kakunin-sho at least two weeks in advance if I want to bring my zolpidem with me. However I've seen reference to them wanting a doctor's note but I'm not sure exactly what this note is supposed to look like or contain and I'm trying to make sure I get this right since they could theoretically arrest you if you don't handle this how they want. My doctor wrote a copy of the prescription down on a prescription pad with "take once daily at bedtime for insomnia" on it. Will that suffice or are they looking for an actual letter?

Also, I saw that there's also an export form requirement if you're not going to use all of your controlled prescription medication while you're in Japan. Do you just submit the export application with the Yunyu Kakunin-sho?

JapanFlyerT

I would think a clearly written prescription plus the bottle with your name on it would be enough. I also imagine they aren't going to worry about pills left in the bottle as long as it isn't many. But better someone else with real experience comment.

Pickles

Ambien? Are you importing a container of it? My guess is that you having a prescription for it, and a small amount for personal use should be sufficient in the extremely, extremely unlikely chance you're stopped at customs and given the cavity search. And if they do find it, just plead ignorance, it's Ambien, not some cocaine hydroxide powder.

And I'll count down before somebody posts back that "ooooh no, you shouldn't do that, they'll catch you and give you the Carlos Ghosn treatment. But unlike Ghosn, you don't have the resources to escape inside a piano container!"

5khours

What's the issue. It's a totally legal drug in Japan so you can bring in a month's personal supply with no requirement to report. If you're worried you can get a prescription in Japan at any clinic after you arrive.

JapanFlyerT

My guess is the OP looked at this and got scared:
https://jp.usembassy.gov/services/importing-medication/

jib71

A smarter paranoiac would warn about the Julie Hemp treatment. (Actually Julie Hamp but for some reason, I always think of her as Julie Hemp).

Eurynom0s

What I saw was this https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/polic...ticals/01.html.

Digging around just now to make sure I wasn't crazy I found this https://www.ncd.mhlw.go.jp/en/application2.html and figured out that I was getting mixed up on the requirements for narcotics vs psychotropics. And now see that I don't need to do anything special if I'm bringing less than 300 mg of Ambien (which I won't be). So this was a bit of a rubber ducky exercise but yeah, the information on this is scattered and it wasn't initially clear that they're easier about what they consider psychotropics than what they consider narcotics. The first page I linked to just says "When you bring your prescribed narcotics and psychotropics into Japan, you have to apply for permission by the Japanese Government (the directors of the Regional Bureaus of Health and Welfare) and receive it before you leave home" and that's the bit that made me make this thread.