Bringing Medication to Japan: 2026 Rules

The short version: up to one month's supply of most prescription medication comes into Japan with no paperwork at all, and up to two months of ordinary over-the-counter medicine is equally fine. The trouble lives in three specific places: Adderall and Dexedrine are completely banned with no exceptions (Vyvanse is different: legal, but only with an advance permit), some Western cold medicines (Sudafed, Vicks inhalers) are classed as stimulant raw materials and can be seized, and anything beyond the basic allowances needs an import certificate applied for at least 14 days before you fly. Here's exactly where your medication falls.

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The Banned List: Do Not Pack These

Japan's drug law makes no distinction between a smuggler's stash and a tourist's prescription bottle. For the following, a foreign prescription is not a defense, declaring it doesn't help, and penalties run up to 10 years:

• Amphetamine ADHD medication: Adderall and Dexedrine. Banned entirely. Even one pill is a criminal offense, and there is no permit, prescription, or appeal that changes it. If you take one of these, talk to your doctor well before the trip: the workable paths are Vyvanse with an advance permit (below), methylphenidate (Ritalin or Concerta-type medication, fine within the normal psychotropic limits), or a planned medication break with medical guidance.
• Anything containing THC. Japan has zero tolerance for cannabis in every form: oils, edibles, gummies, vape cartridges, medical-marijuana cards notwithstanding. Pure CBD with zero THC is technically legal, but customs can't easily verify purity, so the smart move is to leave all of it home.
• High-pseudoephedrine cold medicine: Sudafed and Vicks inhalers are the famous casualties. Products with more than 10% pseudoephedrine are classed as stimulant raw materials, the same category as Vyvanse, and technically the same permit route exists; for a cold medicine, nobody sanely does that paperwork. Pack a different decongestant, or simply buy a Japanese cold medicine on arrival; every drugstore has shelves of them.

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Fine Without Any Paperwork

• Prescription medication (non-narcotic, non-psychotropic): up to a 1-month supply. Blood pressure medication, statins, antibiotics, birth control, thyroid medication, antidepressants like SSRIs: bring them in your carry-on and walk through.
• Over-the-counter medicine: up to a 2-month supply. Painkillers, allergy pills, stomach medicine (minus the pseudoephedrine trap above).
• Common psychotropics (Xanax, Valium, Ambien and similar): allowed up to set per-drug quantity limits, which for normal doses work out to roughly a month of personal use. Within those limits, no paperwork; beyond them, you need the certificate.
• Methylphenidate ADHD medication (Ritalin, Concerta): allowed with no paperwork up to 2.16 g of methylphenidate in total, which covers a month even at the top 72 mg daily dose. It sits under the same psychotropic rules as the row above, not under the amphetamine ban. Carry the prescription, and apply for the certificate only if your total exceeds the limit.
• Pre-filled injection pens (insulin pens, GLP-1 pens, EpiPens): up to a 1-month supply, no certificate needed. The pre-filled part matters; vials with separate syringes don't get this exemption.

Even for the no-paperwork tier, do the two cheap insurance moves: keep everything in its original labeled packaging (not a weekly pill organizer) and carry a copy of the prescription or a doctor's letter naming the drug, dose, and condition. Customs rarely asks; when they do, that paper ends the conversation.

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The Certificate Tier: Yunyu Kakunin-sho

You need Japan's medication import certificate, the Yunyu Kakunin-sho, if any of these apply:

• More than a 1-month supply of prescription medication (common for trips over four weeks, or travellers continuing elsewhere in Asia)
• More than 2 months of OTC medicine
• Injectables beyond the pre-filled allowance: more than a month of pre-filled pens, any injectable that isn't a pre-filled pen or self-injection kit, or syringes and needles packed on their own (even a single spare needle counts as a medical device)
• Psychotropics beyond the standard limits, including methylphenidate past its 2.16 g total

The application runs through the health ministry's online import confirmation system and is free; budget at least two weeks before departure, and start a month out to absorb follow-up questions. You upload the prescription, a doctor's letter, and your flight details, then carry the issued certificate (printed or on your phone) with the medication. The ministry's English information page covers the details.

A separate, stricter tier: narcotics, and Vyvanse. Opioid painkillers (oxycodone, morphine, fentanyl patches, high-dose codeine) fall under Japan's narcotics law and need advance permission at any quantity. Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine) is in this tier too: unlike Adderall it is not banned, but as a "stimulant raw material" it needs the same kind of advance permission, however few capsules you carry. Both applications go to Japan's Narcotics Control Department, separate from the Yunyu Kakunin-sho, with the same at-least-14-days lead time, a doctor's certificate issued within three months, and photos of the medication. The Tokyo office states flatly that it cannot take last-minute applications, so if you travel with opioids or Vyvanse, start this process the day you book flights.

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What to Do Instead of Packing the Pharmacy

For everyday ailments, Japan's drugstores (Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Welcia, Sundrug: they're everywhere, including inside stations) have you covered on arrival. Useful translations for the shelf:

• Pain and fever: ibuprofen sells as-is; the beloved local choice is Loxonin S (loxoprofen), behind the pharmacist's counter but no prescription needed. Note that Japanese doses run smaller than American ones.
• Colds: Pabron and Lulu are the standard multi-symptom brands, pseudoephedrine-free and legal by design.
• Allergies: Allegra FX and Claritin EX are sold over the counter under the same names.
• Stomach: the famous Ohta's Isan powder for overindulgence, and regular loperamide for the serious stuff.

What Japanese pharmacies can't do is refill your foreign prescription: that requires a visit to a Japanese doctor. So for anything you genuinely depend on, bring the full trip's supply (with the certificate if it's over a month) rather than assuming you can top up locally.

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The Pre-Flight Checklist

• Check your ADHD medication's ingredient: Adderall or Dexedrine cannot come at all, Vyvanse needs the Narcotics Control Department permit, and Ritalin or Concerta is fine within the normal limit
• Swap Sudafed and Vicks inhalers for a legal alternative
• Leave every THC and CBD product at home
• Trips over a month, loose syringes, opioids, or Vyvanse: start the paperwork 3–4 weeks out
• Original packaging plus a prescription copy in your carry-on, never checked luggage
• Unsure about a specific drug? Email the health ministry at yakkan@mhlw.go.jp (details on the MHLW page); they answer in English and a saved reply is the best travel insurance there is

While you're doing pre-trip admin, our essential apps guide covers the rest of the before-you-fly setup, and the trip planner's prep checklist keeps the deadlines (like that 14-day certificate window) in view.