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What You Can Buy at a Pharmacy

A simple guide to over-the-counter medicine and prescription medicine in Japan.

Japanese pharmacies and drugstores sell many over-the-counter medicines, but the product names are often different from what Americans know.

You can often buy

  • Cold medicine
  • Pain relievers
  • Stomach medicine
  • Allergy medicine
  • Basic topical treatments

If you receive a prescription from a clinic or hospital, you usually take it to a dispensing pharmacy nearby.

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