getting birth control and contacts sent to me in japan?

10 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **getting birth control and contacts sent to me in japan?**

   i live in norway, but will be moving to japan for a year tomorrow to study. i had absolutely no clue that you had to have a yakkan shomei to import more than two months of contacts and one month of contraceptive pills, as my travel advisor told me it would not be a problem. double-checked now, and it is indeed a problem. won’t be able to get a yakkan shomei by tomorrow, but i’m not returning home for break for three months… would it be possible for my parents to mail me contacts and contraceptives? :’ ) i don’t want to risk sneaking them in, especially not the contraceptive pills!

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2. Not sure about shipping, but contacts are super easy to get here and reasonably priced. I brought a box of my current ones into BIC camera and they helped me do a reorder, which I had delivered to my house the following week. Which really surprised me cause my lenses are not to easiest to fill. Just wanted to ease your mind in case you don’t figure it out. 😊

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4. I missed that you said you’re going to study there. Your school will definitely direct you to a hospital, doctor, or optometrist. You will be fine.

5. Way back in the day I sent my sister who was studying in Japan her medicine. US can do a 3 month supply so I only had to send it once and it was ok.
   Wouldn’t be worried about the contacts! You can get them in Japan easily. The BC might be a problem. Japan has very limited birth control options and some places will only prescribe it for one month.
   Before I moved to Japan I had the BC injection. A shot in your arm every 3 months. I was extremely distressed to see that Japan really only had the pill. I ended up getting the 5 year BC implant (which I didn’t want cuz ew but it’s been worth it)
   You will have more options in Tokyo but very limited elsewhere. I recommend checking if Japan has your BC. If they do then bring the largest prescription you can and finding a doctor here to continue it.
   If they don’t then I would think about switching to a more long term BC before leaving?

6. I get my pills mailed to me. Holiday Pill Akihabara. You can buy a 3 month supply for pretty cheap, and they’ll mail it overnight.

   The yakkan shomei is easy to get, but that’s another option if it is hard/costly to have your family ship the pills

7. No reason to import contact lenses. Readily available and affordable here.

   My wife gets 6 months of birth control sent at one time, DHL, so it’s declared fully to customs etc Never had a problem in 5 years.

8. Take one month and get the rest shipped over. You can’t apply for the yakkan shoumei in advance as you need the AWB etc from the shipping conpany. (unlike applying for approval through customs for when you arrive)

   If they check the parcel then it will be held and you will be emailed by the shipping company. You then need to apply for the yakkan shoumei on the website (the shipping company should include this is their email), and you will be emailed it pretty quickly. Then you forward that to the shipping company and it will be released and delivered to you.

   It’s not such a difficult process but I would advise getting more than two months shipped to you if it’s not available in Japan.

   Also, if you use a normal postal service rather than a courier it isn’t even checked most of the time so it’s much faster.

9. Whoops I brought it an entire year and a half of contacts with me. 🙈 Good on you for not risking it!! Contacts are very cheap and easy to get.

10. You can get birth control in japan just gotta go to the right clinics