today I'm going to go over
over-the-counter drugs in Japan now this
might be a case where the US is just the
odd one out since we can buy cheap drugs
for practically anything but here for
the most part if you get sick you kind
of have to go to the doctor and get a
prescription you can't really just try
to treat yourself at home now if you
come as a student or if you're working
here you'll have health insurance so the
visit and the medicine should be pretty
cheap you won't have to worry about it
but if you're just visiting here and you
won't have the national health insurance
then it might be a good idea to try to
foresee what kind of medicines you might
need so you can bring those with you
today Jun and I went to Utah Co which is
the closest drugstore to us they have
all the sections for the different types
of medicines labeled so it's pretty easy
to figure out where what you need is so
what I'm going to do is show pictures
from these sections and go over what you
can buy I've uploaded all these pictures
online so if you want a close-up of the
different items you can get or their
prices then you can get that link down
in the description section below there
are three levels of over-the-counter
drugs here Daichi diny and Daesan do you
came with the Daiichi products you have
to consult with the store pharmacist
before you can buy them unlike America
where there's a large pharmacy built
into the store somewhere here the
pharmacist should just be sitting out in
the middle of the drug section maybe
behind a small counter or something like
that these are the Japanese brand of
vitamins which of the two brands of
vitamins they have these are the cheaper
ones because they're not imported but
they're still somewhat expensive if you
can see the multivitamins they're still
2,600 yen which is about $30 or more
u.s. dollars everything on the bottom
here are pills that you swallow and
here's the foreign import brand of
vitamins nature-made
you're probably used to seeing these in
America these are a little bit more
expensive the multivitamins are 2,900
yen which is more than $30 u.s. they
have a fair variety of these though so
you can get them here if you want to buy
vitamins here but otherwise I recommend
bringing them on your own this whole
section is for colds
down here our Vic's cough drops and
sprays for your throat for sore throats
and over on the side there are face
masks which are always popular here in
Japan these are all four high fevers
your fever this is for eyes eat your
eyes and from here to here I think they
all runny nose there are a lot of things
with the word placenta on them they're
not for pregnant women I don't know why
the word placenta is on everything here
these are sleep aids up here at the top
and down on the bottom there's a whole
variety of medicines for kids for fevers
colds things like that
these are for athlete's foot they have a
lot of other things for your skin like
skin rashes or if you use soap too often
on your hands and it gets all dried out
they have stuff for that too and things
for eczema this section is for contact
lenses they have eyedrops and contact
lenses wash this section is for your
eyes they all they're all a drops this
section is all for digestion down in the
bottom corner they have bio Fuhrman s
which is a probiotic it's got the
lactobacillus bacteria and I'm not sure
how to pronounce that that's what we use
here for probiotic it works pretty well
for us so if you're looking for a
probiotic I recommend trying that one
this section has medicine for overeating
so if you get heartburn or if you have
gas you can get pills for that here this
section here is for constipation
ha music another body this section is
sold for a writing notes know that I'm
hot up you tell me ah
this section is for sore throat this is
the small women's health section this is
where you can get pain relief for
periods and headaches and fevers this is
the extent of over-the-counter drugs for
women though so if you have any issues
beyond that store pain you will have to
go see a doctor for a prescription so
for example if you have any issues with
your lady parts let's say you're prone
to yeast infections or if you do a round
of antibiotics which can easily cause a
yeast infection that's kind of an
embarrassing uncomfortable situation to
experience when you're abroad so you
might want to consider just bringing
some medicine from your home country as
a preventative measure if you're a
smoker and you're trying to quit they do
have nicorette gum and patches here this
section is for muscle pain they have
tons and tons of products for this here
so X praise roll-on type patches pads
things like that this section here is
your condoms and pregnancy tests these
are all protein powders that you put in
any drinks um they're all for exercising
there's also a lot of Chinese herbal
medicine and Chinese energy drinks and
things like that which are kind of
sketchy looking that's what this section
is here just a quick story for you guys
the first time I came to Japan I ended
up needing medicine for undisclosed
situation but I didn't want to go to a
doctor for it here so my mom went to my
doctor for me in America and got my
prescription for me and she was going to
mail it to me
she didn't tell me she was going to do
this but she was afraid they would stop
my medicine if she marked that way she
was sending drugs through the mail so
she just marked it toys instead of
medicine and she put like a little
stormtrooper in the package and like a
little plastic dog and this little
butterfly thing and send it that way and
when I ended up getting the package it
had been like all ripped apart and
back together and there was a notice on
it saying it had been inspected by
customs and I saw the sheet from my mom
that said it was toys oh my god mom
what were you do it you're gonna give me
sent to jail but they they actually they
let my drugs through anyway so that was
really cool all of them
thanks Japan customs thanks for letting
me get my drugs that's a nice view so
anyway the moral of this story is just
trying to foresee a situation where you
might need medicine and bring that with
you otherwise to see a doctor in Japan
it's not that bad they're really nice I
went a couple months ago and literally
from the time I walked through the door
to when I got my prescription I couldn't
have been there more than 15 minutes so
it was really quick and painless it's
not a big deal at all
as far as specific drugs go if there's
anything you're curious if you can get
in Japan or not leave that in the
comments section below and we'll do our
best to figure out if you can get it
here and how much it'll be and all that
kind of stuff um compared to America at
the over-the-counter section here it
seems kind of small for me but I'm
curious for those of you from other
countries how Japan compares are is your
section more like Japan's or do you have
a lot more or is America just full of
druggies kind of curious if you're in
another country let us know otherwise
I'll see you guys next time