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Japan regulates what enters the country in your medicine bag more tightly than most travellers expect, and it does not make exceptions for a valid foreign prescription. Two separate things can catch you: quantity, which is a paperwork problem with a solution, and substance, which is not.
The thresholds
- Prescription medicine: up to a one-month supply, no paperwork.
- Over-the-counter medicine: up to a two-month supply, no paperwork.
- Above those: you need a Yunyu Kakunin-sho import certificate, applied for before you fly.
- Narcotics and psychotropics need a separate permit, whatever the quantity.
- Stimulants are banned outright. Adderall and Vyvanse cannot legally enter Japan at all.
Banned medications in Japan: check this list first
Deal with this before you think about forms, because no certificate exists for these. Japan’s Stimulants Control Act prohibits amphetamine and methamphetamine compounds. That covers Adderall, Vyvanse, Dexedrine and their generics. A prescription from your doctor at home does not create an exemption, and neither does declaring it. People have been detained at Japanese airports over ADHD medication they took legally for years.
If you take a stimulant daily, sort this out first
Do not pack it and hope. Talk to your prescriber about the trip well in advance. Atomoxetine is not a controlled stimulant and is generally treatable as an ordinary prescription drug; methylphenidate is controlled and restricted. Confirm your specific molecule with the Japanese embassy in your country before you book anything you cannot cancel.
The other common trap is pseudoephedrine, the decongestant in some formulations of Sudafed and in certain Vicks inhalers. Japan restricts it as a stimulant raw material above a 10 percent concentration, which is enough to catch several ordinary cold remedies sold freely elsewhere. Leave them at home; Japanese pharmacies sell cold medicine.
| Substance | Status |
|---|---|
| Amphetamine family (Adderall, Vyvanse, Dexedrine) | Banned. No permit available |
| Methamphetamine compounds | Banned |
| Pseudoephedrine above 10% | Banned |
| Narcotics, opioids, psychotropics | Permit required, from a different office |
| Ordinary prescription drugs | One month free, certificate beyond |
Can you bring Adderall to Japan?
No. Adderall is a mix of amphetamine salts, and amphetamine is on Japan’s prohibited stimulant list. There is no permit for it and no amount small enough to slip under a limit. Vyvanse gets the same answer, because the body converts its active ingredient into amphetamine. If you rely on either, raise the trip with your prescriber months ahead and ask whether a non-stimulant can cover the days you are away. Then check that exact molecule with the Japanese embassy before you fly. It’s a hassle, but a far smaller one than explaining a pill bottle at Narita.
The quantity rules
If your medicine is not on a restricted list, the only question is how much of it you are carrying. Under the allowances you carry it in and say nothing. Over them, you need the certificate.
| Category | Allowance without paperwork |
|---|---|
| Prescription medicine | 1 month supply |
| Over-the-counter medicine | 2 month supply |
| External use products (creams, eye drops) | 24 items total |
| Cosmetics | 24 items per product |
| Medical devices for personal use | Generally one set — check the class |
Supply is counted as prescribed dosage, not as boxes. Two tablets a day for thirty days is sixty tablets, and that is your month. A three-month repeat prescription collected before you left is over the line even if it is one small bottle.
Applying for the import certificate
The document is the Yunyu Kakunin-sho, the import confirmation certificate. Older guides and the forms themselves still call it Yakkan Shoumei; they are the same thing.
- Apply to the Regional Bureau of Health and Welfare that covers your arrival airport, not the one covering your destination city. Landing at Narita and travelling to Osaka means the Kanto-Shinetsu bureau.
- Send it at least two weeks before departure. Two weeks is the stated minimum, not the realistic one. A month is safer, and a query about your file eats the margin fast.
- Supply the prescription details: the drug name, the ingredient, the dosage, the total quantity, and your travel dates. A letter from the prescribing doctor supports the file.
- Carry the approved certificate on you, printed, with the medicine. It is worthless in your checked bag if customs opens your hand luggage.
Narcotics and psychotropics take a different route entirely, through the Narcotics Control Department, with its own form and its own lead time. If your medicine is in that class, start earlier and expect more questions.
How to pack it
- Original labelled packaging. A weekly pill organiser tells a customs officer nothing about what the tablets are or who prescribed them.
- Hand luggage, not hold. Standard advice for anything you cannot replace, and it also puts the medicine where the certificate is.
- A copy of the prescription, ideally naming the active ingredient rather than only the brand. Brand names differ by country; the molecule does not.
- Split a long trip’s supply only if you genuinely stay under the threshold at the border. The rule counts what you bring in, not what you use per week.
Japanese pharmacies are an option
For ordinary complaints, buying locally is often simpler than importing. Painkillers, cold remedies, antihistamines and stomach medicine are sold in every drugstore. Doses tend to run lower than American equivalents, so read the box rather than assuming one tablet equals one tablet.
What happens if you get it wrong
For a quantity breach with no restricted substance involved, the usual outcome is that the excess is surrendered at the border. Annoying, not serious.
For a banned stimulant, it is a drug offence under Japanese law, and Japanese drug enforcement is not lenient. Detention while it is investigated is a real outcome, and the fact that you did not know is not a defence. This is the one entry rule on the whole site where the gap between a small mistake and a very bad month is widest.
Declare medicine honestly on your customs form. See the full customs and duty-free allowances for the rest of what you are carrying, and Visit Japan Web for filing the declaration before you land.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan — import confirmation (Yunyu Kakunin-sho) procedures and personal-use quantity allowances.
- Narcotics Control Department, MHLW — permit procedure for bringing narcotics and psychotropics for personal use.
- Stimulants Control Act of Japan — prohibited stimulant compounds and raw materials.
- Embassy of Japan in the United States — guidance on bringing medications into Japan.
Data checked: 2026-09-27
