Regulations about visitors to Japan bringing medications for personal use during their visit are hard for both patients and clinicians to understand clearly, despite the information provided on Japanese government websites.
In particular, there are very strict regulations about visitors bringing stimulant medications to Japan, even if the person is:
– Visiting Japan as a tourist for less than a month
– Bringing the stimulant medication for personal use only
– Carrying the medication in its original bottle, and
– Has a letter from the prescribing clinician explaining that the medication is prescribed for a legitimate reason.
Warning! All these things may NOT be enough. At a minimum, the medication may be confiscated, and, at worst, there have been several cases of foreigners being arrested and jailed for possessing a stimulant medication that was legitimately prescribed to them.
So, in this short article, let’s make it very clear what the regulations are regarding traveling with a stimulant medication and what exactly the patient needs to do before leaving for Japan.
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