Medications That Are Illegal to Bring to Japan
Tune into this episode if you travel with prescription medication, because while this episode is about Japan specifically, it is also food for thought to ensure that you research any travel destination when traveling with medication.Â
Jenn shares that it is actually illegal to bring in some medications, others require forms to be filled out, and some medications, if brought into the country illegally, can lead to arrest and even imprisonment.
Let us share this super important information with you: what you need to know and how you can avoid the worst-case scenario when bringing certain medications into Japan.
Episode Resources
Podcast Transcript
Jenn: [00:00:00] Hey everyone and welcome back to Travel Tip Tuesday with the Travel Mug Podcast. Every second week here we share quick travel tips that you might not know. And this one I did not know until I saw a news story about it. So Meggan, I wanna talk about traveling with medications to Japan, 'cause I think this can be overlooked very easily.
Meggan: Okay, lay it on me.
Jenn: All right, so it is illegal to bring some medications into Japan, particularly stimulants. So this includes common medications that contain pseudoephedrine, which is common in decongestants and codeine, which is in some pain medication like Tylenol threes. It also includes medications like Adderall that are used to treat ADHD.
So anyone who illegally brings these medications into Japan. It risks being arrested and imprisoned even if you have a prescription from your home country. [00:01:00] So it's definitely serious and something that you need to know in advance. So if you take one of these medications and you are planning to travel to Japan, you will need to apply for an import certificate in advance, and even then medications, like Adderall or anything containing an amphetamine cannot be brought into the country at all. So additionally, you might have to fill out an export form for leaving Japan with leftover medication. They're seriously tracking what is coming in and what is going out, so you need to fill out their documents.
Including a medical certificate from your doctor and photos of the medication package and submit them to the narcotics, uh, control department in charge of the area where you are arriving in Japan at least two weeks in advance, uh, before you get there. And when you arrive in Japan, you'll have to show that certificate to the customs [00:02:00] officer.
So Japan's not the only country that has restrictions on medication. Other countries, uh, have, uh, rules about what medications can be brought in Mexico, Greece, Indonesia, Singapore, and South Korea, just to name a few. So this goes back to what we always say, Meggan, which is do your research like, uh, did you know this about Japan? Had you heard this before?
Meggan: I certainly have not. And what news story did you see? Did this obviously occur to
Jenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So now.
Meggan: Yeah. I did not know this at all and I don't think I really thought about it with other countries either. So this is definitely food for thought.
Jenn: I mean my, my husband takes a steroid inhaler and it is something that would, we would need a certificate for to bring into Japan. So it's just something to know. And yeah, on their website it's like if you take Adderall, you better figure out a different medication before you come here.
Meggan: Good luck to you.
Jenn: Yeah. Um, [00:03:00] so, uh, that's all we have for this week's tip.
I'm going to put some resources in the show notes for you if you're planning a trip to Japan so you can figure out what you need. Uh, you can visit us on our website travelmugpodcast.com and on social media at Travel Mug Podcast. We would love to see some new reviews for the podcast on Apple or Spotify, and you can support the show through Buy Me a Coffee and by sharing the show with a travel loving pal.
And until next time, bye.
Meggan: Bye everyone.