Japan

Also sold as Calonal A (カロナールA), the same ingredient; plain Calonal is prescription-only. Japanese Tylenol is a lower dose (300 mg per tablet) than the 500 mg standard elsewhere, so one tablet does not equal one of yours.

EVE A has 75 mg ibuprofen per tablet (adult dose 2 tablets), plus caffeine and a sedative (allylisopropylacetylurea). Loxoprofen (brand "Loxonin S") is the more common OTC pain reliever in Japan.

Sold as a Class 2 OTC medicine.

Prescription-only. The common over-the-counter antihistamine is fexofenadine (Allegra FX).

Sold as a sleep aid, not for allergies. Look in the sleep section of the pharmacy. 25 mg per tablet (adult dose 2 tablets).

Lopemin is prescription-only. Over the counter, look for Tomedine Kowa or the Stoppa (ストッパ) range. These are brand families with more than one formulation, so confirm loperamide (ロペラミド) is the active ingredient on the pack.

Prescription only. Over-the-counter PPIs are uncommon in Japan.

A stimulant raw material under Japanese law. Products with more than 10% pseudoephedrine need written permission before you travel; products with 10% or less are excluded from that rule.

Prescription-only, and licensed as a children’s medicine. Melatonin is not sold as a supplement in Japan, so bring your own supply.

Dramamine (dimenhydrinate) is prescription-only. Over the counter, look for the Travelmin range: it is a brand family whose products use different active ingredients for different needs, so check the ingredients on the pack.

Licensed into Japan from Glucophage’s maker (Merck Sante, France) in 2003; approved by Japan’s health ministry in 2010.

Branded "Jzoloft" in Japan, not "Zoloft".

Thyradin S (Asuka Pharmaceutical, distributed by Takeda) is the main brand in Japan.

Available, but Japanese doctors more often prescribe ARBs than ACE inhibitors for blood pressure, so lisinopril is less common.

Made by MSD/Organon and approved in Japan since July 1998.

Listed in Japan since 2006.

Pantoprazole is not on Japan’s prescription list. Japan uses omeprazole (Omepral), esomeprazole (Nexium), lansoprazole (Takepron), rabeprazole (Pariet) and vonoprazan (Takecab) instead, all prescription-only, so bring your own supply.

Banned. Amphetamine is a prohibited stimulant under Japan’s Stimulants Control Act. A foreign prescription carries no legal weight, and importing it is a criminal offence even in original packaging. Methylphenidate (Concerta) and Vyvanse fall under separate, more permissive rules; see those entries.

Rarely prescribed on its own. It is mostly found inside combination pills such as Preminent (losartan + hydrochlorothiazide) or Ecard (candesartan + hydrochlorothiazide).

Not approved for any use by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. It cannot be prescribed or dispensed in Japan. For smoking cessation, Japan uses varenicline (Champix) and nicotine replacement instead of Zyban.

Not approved for use. The manufacturer withdrew it after disappointing local trials. The SSRIs used in Japan are fluvoxamine, paroxetine, sertraline and escitalopram.

Prescribed as an antidepressant (SARI class) but, as elsewhere, increasingly used off-label for its sedative effect as a sleep aid.

Not marketed in Japan. It is a narcotic under Japanese law, so bringing your own supply follows the same rule as oxycodone: written permission from a Regional Bureau of Health and Welfare before you travel, for any quantity, applied for at least 14 days ahead with a doctor’s certificate.

Flunase nasal spray is sold over the counter for seasonal allergies (hay fever). Allermist (nasal spray) and Flutide (inhaler) are prescription-only. Other over-the-counter steroid nasal sprays use beclomethasone dipropionate (ベクロメタゾンプロピオン酸エステル) instead, for example Nazal αAR (ナザールαAR) and Contac Hana-en Spray (コンタック鼻炎スプレー).

Sold by Boehringer Ingelheim Japan since January 2005.

The maker is withdrawing Levemir worldwide, so stock may be limited. Other long-acting insulins sold here: glargine (Lantus) and degludec (Tresiba).

Gaster is prescription-only. Gaster 10 is the non-prescription version, sold only after a consultation with the pharmacist.

Sold as 1.25, 2.5, 10 and 20 mg tablets.

Prescription-only, but not a narcotic or psychotropic under Japanese law, so the narcotics permit does not apply.

A psychotropic under Japanese law. The amount you may bring without permission is set per medicine and is low for this one: 72 mg in total. Above that, carry a doctor’s certificate stating your condition and the amount you need.

Japan uses prednisolone instead: Predonine (プレドニン), prescription-only. Prednisone itself is not marketed in Japan. The liver converts prednisone to prednisolone anyway, so Japan prescribes prednisolone directly. Predonine needs a prescription, so bring your own supply.

A narcotic under Japanese law. To bring your own supply you need written permission from a Regional Bureau of Health and Welfare before you travel, for any quantity: apply at least 14 days ahead with a doctor’s certificate. There is no small-quantity exemption like the one for psychotropics such as methylphenidate.

A psychotropic under Japanese law. You may bring up to 2.16 g in total without permission; above that, carry a doctor’s certificate stating your condition and the amount you need. Japan has also reported periodic Concerta shortages, so don’t count on buying it locally.

Not sold over the counter in Japan; loxoprofen ("Loxonin S") is the usual OTC pain reliever.

Usually one ingredient among several in OTC cold remedies rather than sold on its own.

Medicon itself is prescription-only; "Medicon Sekidome Pro" is the over-the-counter version.

Bring what you need from home.

A mixed antacid powder that includes calcium carbonate among other ingredients.

Found in some OTC motion-sickness (酔い止め) tablets alongside other ingredients.

Sold over the counter, but Terra-Cortril is not plain hydrocortisone: it combines hydrocortisone with the antibiotic oxytetracycline. Check the active ingredients on the pack.

Sold over the counter. Empecid contains clotrimazole (クロトリマゾール) as its only active ingredient.

Dolmycin contains bacitracin with colistin.

Drewell (diphenhydramine) is the OTC sleep aid.

Sold without a prescription, but only by a pharmacist, who may ask you to take the tablet in front of them.

Scopolamine patches are not sold in Japan, so bring what you need from home. The nearest prescription product is Buscopan (ブスコパン, butylscopolamine). Over the counter, some products in the Travelmin (トラベルミン) motion-sickness range include scopolamine as one of several ingredients.