newaltsmedication

Medications

The following information is adapted from the CLAIR General Information Handbook:

1) Bringing or Shipping Quantities within the Allowable Limit
The following limits apply for bringing or shipping medication, cosmetics, etc. for personal use. These items may not be given or sold to another person.

Note 1: Medication readily available over the counter in your home country may be illegal in Japan, and therefore you will not be able to bring them into Japan.(i.e. medicines containing stimulants: Amphetamine, Metamphetamine, etc, such as Sudofed, Niquil, etc.)

Some associations such as the Epileptic Association of America have listings of comparable medications legal for import to Japan. Confirm with your doctor before you leave.

Please note that anti-psychotic medication may not be sent to Japan and must be obtained in Japan.

Note 2: You may ONLY bring needles for personal insulin injections.

2) Bringing Quantities over the Allowable Limit with you (on the plane)
If you intend to bring more than the allowable amount, you are required to obtain permission from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Kanto-Shinetsu Regional Bureau of Health and Welfare) in the form of a yakkan shomei certificate. (See Yakkan Shomei Certificate page).

3) When Shipping Quantities Over the Allowable Limit
In order to ship quantities over the allowable limit you must follow the procedure outlined below. (Please note that anti-psychotic medication may not be sent to Japan and must be obtained in Japan.)

1. Have a prescription written by a Japanese or foreign doctor (the amount of medication must be written on the prescription for it to be accepted).
2. Have the medication (the exact amount written on the form) sent from abroad.
3. In some cases packages may be withheld by customs. If customs withholds your package, they will send you notification in the form of a postcard. Then you will need to obtain a yakkan shomei certificate
(See Yakkan Shomei Certificate page). You should send the yakkan shomei and the postcard, along with any other relevant documents to the Health and Welfare Office dealing with customs. If there is no problem, the welfare office will stamp the certificate and send the relevant part back to you. You then send the validated yakkan shomei back to customs. Once customs receives your validated yakkan shomei certificate, they will release the medicine. (You may have to pay storage charges.)

Note: 1. Please bear in mind that there is a possibility of your application being rejected. Be sure to have all your application documents in order, and be prepared to make alternative arrangements (such as finding a
comparable medication in Japan), should your application be rejected.

2. In many cases it will help to have an invoice of the exact contents of the package being sent to you separately. Include this with the documents you send to the welfare office.

4) If your Prescription Runs Out
If your prescription runs out, you will need to follow the procedures below. Method 1: Take the prescription written by the doctor in your home country to a doctor in Japan, who will write you a prescription for an equivalent medication available in Japan. Then you should be able to buy the equivalent medication in Japan.

Method 2: Have a one-month supply sent from home each month. This does not require any special procedures. (However, anti-psychotic medication may not be sent to Japan and must be obtained in Japan.)

Method 3: If you are having more than one-month’s supply shipped or require needles, please refer to the previous section 3) When Shipping Quantities Over the Allowable Limit.