Pain Medication in Japan

So, recently I talked a little about the big pharmacy chains in Japan. But if you're like me, even after you find and walk inside a Japanese pharmacy, you have a bit of difficulty identifying and choosing what you want to buy. Part of this is simple brand unfamiliarity, and part of it is the language barrier--and I'm sorry to say that in my experience, it doesn't get much better with time. Even after I learned Japanese to a tolerable degree, I found that it is a skill of conscious effort. It is still very easy for me to just "tune out" Japanese characters when I'm presented with advertisements, billboards, and product packaging. If I want to know what they say, I have to stop and think about it.

So, anyway, let's get to the point: You've got a headache, you're in Japan, and you want something OTC to take care of it. Here are some of your options:

Chain Pharmacies in Japan

This is a list of some of the major nationwide and regional pharmacy chains in Japan where you can purchase OTC medical supplies. This list is by no means complete, but covers many of the major players in the Japanese pharmacy market.

For more information about pharmacies and drugs in Japan, check out Dan's series of articles here on AccessJ:
Pharmacies and Prescriptions in Japan
Over the Counter Drug Laws in Japan
Online Drug Sale Laws in Japan

Drunk Driving in Japan: Alcohol Levels and Penalties

At the end of last year, Dan told us about Kenmon, or checkpoints set up on major thoroughfares in Japan to help catch drunk drivers. He mentioned that drunk driving is a serious offence in Japan, and it is. Here's how serious:

Legally there are two classifications for driving under the influence of alcohol in Japan: 酒気帯び運転 (shuki obi unten) and the more serious 酒酔い運転 (sake yoi unten).

Eye Exams in Japan

Eye exams (視力検査, shiryoku kensa) in Japan are pretty similar to those of other countries. You get them as part of a general physical check-up at the doctor's office and when you renew your driver's license.

The only thing that caught me off guard about eye exams here is the difference in design. In the US, I was used to naming alphabet letters (a Snellen chart). However, sometimes I would be presented with a chart of "E"s pointing in different directions and asked to point my hand in the corresponding direction (an E chart).

That second test is similar to the eye exams used most commonly in Japan. However, instead of "E"s, the Japanese chart uses circles with little sections cut out of them.

Top 5 Causes of Death in Japan

Morbid subject, but for the interested here's a summary, plus a little extrapolation.

Wheat Gluten Free Soy Sauce in Japan

I seem to know a fair number of people who are allergic to gluten or are trying to minimize it in their diets. More and more in Japan, I see stores and products sensitive to consumers with allergies, and gluten awareness seems to be slowly rising as well.

Soy sauce is a major condiment in cooking here, of course, and you might be surprised to learn that even though its primary ingredients are soybean and salt, it also includes roasted grain. That grain is often wheat.

So if you're looking for a gluten-free alternative for your cooking, here's one to consider: The company イチビキ (ichibiki) puts out a product called 小麦を使わない丸大豆しょうゆ (komugi wo tsukawanai marudaizu shouyu, "wheat-free whole soybean soy sauce") that is advertised as being as tasty as the real thing.

Ugai: Japanese People Love Gargling

When I was a little kid, my parents and teachers drilled into me the importance of hand-washing for staving off colds and other illness. At the time I was terrified to think that there were things crawling around on my skin that I couldn't see, and I became paranoid about shaking other peoples' hands or sharing a glass or utensil with anyone else. I eventually got over it, but it took the better part of two decades.

In Japan as well, hand-washing is considered an important sanitary measure and children are taught to do it from an early age. Elementary school teachers and junior high school teachers (yes, really) demonstrate proper hand-washing behavior to students and then watch as students practice. Presumably offering tips. "Make sure to scrub all the way up to your wrist, Timmy!"

Now, hand-washing in Japan offers plenty of tangents to spiral off on, like the rarity of soap, paper towels, and hot water in public restrooms or the crazy little sink lids outfitted on toilet water tanks (you are supposed to wash your hands with the water that pours into the tank at the end of the flush cycle).

But the one I want to talk about today is the inseparable partner of hand-washing in Japan: The gargle.

Japanese Salad Greens: Mizuna

Well, now that you're probably wondering whether Amano Foods sent us a big check to write last week's article (ahaha, that's a good one: making money from blogging), we've got another food tip for you.

Because of the really poor fiber content of Japan's omnipresent white rice and very, very white bread, frequent and delicious green, leafy salads can be a great addition to your diet here. (And they give you a good reason to try out all the Japanese-market-specific salad dressings here.)

The problem I run into, though, is that I'm not familiar with a lot of the greens commonly sold here. Sure, I can recognize cabbage (キャベツ), lettuce (レタス), spinach (ほうれん草)--which when you eat raw will bring bug-eyed stares from Japanese people--and even "Chinese cabbage" (白菜), but there are a lot of other greens on the local supermarket shelf that weren't common for me back home.

Today I'll introduce one that's easy to use, cheap, and grown domestically year-round: Mizuna (水菜).

Ningen Dokku: A Full Physical Check-Up

Japan, being the maverick that it is, has very different way of going about regular physicals. Believe it or not, physicals are not covered by health insurance on account of the fact that work places are legally obligated to provide medical screenings (kenko shindan 健康診断) for their employees.

While medical screens are comprehensive, they are usually conducted in a conveyor-belt fashion and are not particularly invasive. If you are in your mid thirties or forties, it is recommended that you instead get a "full physical examination," known as 人間ドック (ningen doku).

Recipe: Healthy Japanese Nimono

I've been trying out some new recipes over the summer and hit on a particularly simple one that's both healthy and cheap to make--helping it fit right in with Dan's current selection of AccessJ posts on saving money in Japan. Better yet, a post like this is an easy place to review some Japanese kitchen words. So, get your pot in one hand and memo pad in the other; we're about to cook up some good old Japanese nimono (煮物)!

5 Types of Poisonous Japanese Wild Mushroom

A short while ago I wrote about 5 delicious edible mushrooms in Japan.

Predictably, not all mushrooms are quite so delicious, or even safe to eat. Here are 5 baddies.

Hard or Soft Tofu: Momen and Kinu

At your local supermarket in Japan, tofu is divided up into two main categories, called もめん (momen) and きぬ (kinu). In Western grocery stores, the same distinction is made as "hard" tofu and "soft" tofu, although the actual difference goes a little beyond simple firmness.

Today we'll learn a bit about what sets もめん and きぬ apart!

Why Are The Japanese So Lean?

Okay, so not all of them are. But the Japanese have and somewhat deserve the reputation of being skinny, despite eating huge amounts of white rice. Japan has just over 10% of the obesity rate of the USA, and sits at the bottom of this table of rankings.

I took my nutritional knowledge on a short path to the bottom of this for your reading pleasure.

Reading Japanese Nutritional Information

Bought a food or drink? Want to know the fat content or something?

Trekking in Japan Trek Database

If you're into hiking, Japan has some fantastic sites.

16 Ways to Keep Dry in Japan This Summer

Summer apparently officially started last week. It's going to be pretty humid, in case you didn't know. Here's how you can make a difference!!!!!

Why Are the Japanese Such Alcoholic Lightweights?

Those crazy Japanese just can't take their alcohol!

First they go bright pink, then they fall asleep (with a neck-tie around their heads) in the street (or subway) using their wallet as a pillow, with a comedy snot bubble rising and falling from their nostril.

Okay, so perhaps there may be a hint of generalisation there...

...but there is also a genuine issue. Why do Japanese people find it hard to drink as much as many other nationalities? It can't be lack of exposure, because I know many Japanese people who drink every night (and don't seem to be in the least bit stigmatised because of it). So, why is it?

I decided to find out.

Choking on mochi? Grab a vacuum.

Every year, a few Japanese people die over New Year celebrations by choking on mochi they swallowed whole. (For real. Here's a news report about 7 mochi choking deaths over January 1st to January 3rd last year.)

How to Donate Bone Marrow

This is a repost, by permission, from Save Aidan - a donation drive to help a fellow ex-pat recently diagnosed with Leukemia and in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. If you have any spare cash, even a few hundred yen or a dollar, he would appreciate it. 

Whey Protein in Japan

Want to buy some whey protein for maximum macho muscle madness? Or some other reason? As with so many things, AccessJ has got you covered.