A Brief Guide to OTC Cold and Cough Medications in Japan

With Japan’s re-opening and the upcoming winter, I’m going to go over some common cold and cough medicines found in Japan’s drug stores. These are all over-the-counter medications that you can pick up a most drug stores throughout the country. Matsumoto Kiyoshi (MatsuKi, マツモトキヨシ) is possibly the most noticeable drug store, with its big yellow and blue signage, but there are many others, too. More generally, drug stores will have this kanji often listed outside: 薬 (medicine).

# General Notes

* The guide below details a few prominent medications. It does not cover all medications available. Some of these medications also have different versions with slightly different ingredients meant to target different symptoms. I picked the most “general” of the options when I could.
* I did not translate the entire box for these medications. Below, I’ve listed ingredients, usage, dosage, and any important notes. If you need more specifics for things like allergies or aversions, this is not a guide that can help you.
* Given the ingredients of these medications, almost all recommend that you take them with food.
* Almost all of these medicines contains forms of codeine and/or ephedrine, ingredients which are often **not considered OTC medications in other countries**. Be careful when taking leftover pills out of the country, and **make sure to adhere to your next/home country’s medication laws**.
* **This guide is not medical advice!** It is simply meant to help you read and understand the packaging of Japanese OTC medications if you are looking for cold symptom management.
* Translations of Japanese were made with assistance from /u/SofaAssassin. Thanks!

# Glossary

Here are some ingredients you’ll commonly find in Japanese cold and cough medications:

# S.TAC NEO EX

[FRONT OF BOX](https://imgur.com/syes79g) | [BACK OF BOX](https://imgur.com/T3wNZg0) | GENERAL COLD AND COUGH MEDICINE

S.TAC NEO EX is a general cold and cough medicine that uses ibuprofen-based pain relief. It’s a good all-purpose medicine for when you’re managing cold symptoms. For an adult, you take 2 pills 3 times per day. The dosages on the ingredients listed below are for 6 pills (a full day’s worth), so divide by three to get the per-dose amount.

# Lulu Attack IB Ace

[FRONT OF BOX](https://imgur.com/g6vzp3l) | [BACK OF BOX](https://imgur.com/mVjWlSc) | GENERAL COLD AND COUGH MEDICINE

Lulu Attack IB Ace is a general cold and cough medicine that uses ibuprofen-based pain relief. It’s a good all-purpose medicine for when you’re managing cold symptoms. For an adult, you take 2 pills 3 times per day. The dosages on the ingredients listed below are for 6 pills (a full day’s worth), so divide by three to get the per-dose amount.

# Pablon Gold A (パブロンゴールドA)

[FRONT OF BOX](https://imgur.com/rVm16ZM) | [BACK OF BOX](https://imgur.com/6Z2R4J8) | GENERAL COLD AND COUGH MEDICINE

Pablon Gold A is a general cold and cough medicine that uses acetaminophen-based pain relief. It’s a good all-purpose medicine for when you’re managing cold symptoms, although it leans pretty heavily toward cough medicine ingredients. For an adult, you take 3 pills 3 times per day. The dosages on the ingredients listed below are for 3 pills (one dose). This is actually a huge bottle of pills, unlike some of the other options, which come portioned out for smaller lengths of time. **Note: Pablon Gold also comes in a powder form (for mixing into water).** The ingredients are the same, but the box will be bigger, lighter, and in a denomination of 40 packets instead of 210 pills.

# Stona EX (ストナ)

[FRONT OF BOX](https://imgur.com/rZmddWN) | [BACK OF BOX](https://imgur.com/qGVk24p) | COUGH MEDICINE (PRETTY STRONG)

Stona EX is mostly a cough medicine that uses ibuprofen-based pain relief. Although it contains general cold meds, it leans pretty heavily toward cough medicine ingredients, and it is quite strong. For an adult, you take 2 pills 3 times per day. The dosages on the ingredients listed below are for 6 pills (a full day’s worth), so divide by three to get the per-dose amount. **Note: Stona comes in a few different forms (different color boxes).** They are all for cough and cold, with slight variations on ingredients. See packages for comparison.

# S.TAC IBU NT

[FRONT OF BOX](https://imgur.com/2DyepWz) | [BACK OF BOX](https://imgur.com/Jp4i3yr) | GENERAL COLD AND COUGH MEDICINE

S.TAC IBU NT is a general cold and cough medicine that uses ibuprofen-based pain relief. It’s similar (and from the same company) as S.TAC NEO EX from above, although it has a slightly lower dose of ibuprofen. **Note that there are several S.TAC IBU variations (different color boxes).** They are all for cough and cold, with slight variations on ingredients to target different symptoms. See packages for comparison.

It’s a good all-purpose medicine for when you’re managing cold symptoms. For an adult, you take 3 pills 3 times per day. The dosages on the ingredients listed below are for 6 pills (a full day’s worth), so divide by three to get the per-dose amount.

# SS Bron B Caplets (エスエスブロン B)

[FRONT OF BOX](https://imgur.com/hDGLM8K) | [BACK OF BOX](https://imgur.com/LKDYE3T) | COUGH MEDICINE (STRONG)

SS Bron is exclusively a cough medicine. It is very strong, and contains more dihydryocodeine than other things on this list, which means it has quite a bit of a drowsy effect. I wouldn’t recommend SS Bron unless you are suffering a serious cough, and you should be careful when combining it with other medications (especially ones that also contain dihydryocodeine). In most drug stores, this product will be on the shelves, but you will likely need to speak with a pharmacist at checkout and answer a series of questions before they will let you buy it, as it is often abused and more strictly controlled because of that.

For an adult, you take 4 pills 3 times per day. The dosages on the ingredients listed below are for 12 pills (a full day’s worth), so divide by three to get the per-dose amount. **Note: SS Bron also comes in a liquid form.**

A Brief Guide to OTC Cold and Cough Medications in Japan

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A Brief Guide to OTC Cold and Cough Medications in Japan

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Amazon black friday/discounts

is there night senior high school like there is night junior high school?

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