One of the biggest concerns about travelling abroad is getting sick during the trip. But if the symptoms are light, you may just need a quick aid with OTC medicines instead of going to see a doctor.

OTC medicine also known as Over-the Counter medicine or non-prescription medicine is the type of medicines that you can buy at drugstores or pharmacy without doctors’ prescription. A wide variety of OTC medicines are sold at in Japan including pain killers, cold medicine and stomach medicine.

However, buying medicines in Japan may be a big challenge for many foreigners as most packages are written in Japanese so it is very hard to know which medicines are effective for your symptoms or what ingredients are used. To avoid a such awful case, it’s better to know in advance effective Japanese medicines for common illnesses.

Having light migraine, menstrual pain or body pain such as toothache, joint pain, muscle pain are common sickness that can happen to anyone at anytime, and painkiller is one of essential medicines to keep at home or with you.

In this article, I would like to introduce 5 popular OTC pain killers in Japan. These Japanese pain relief medicines act on various physical pains including pain such as headache, menstrual cramps and toothache, and they are commonly sold at drugstores in Japan.

There are various kinds of pain killers in Japan with different active ingredients (ibuprofen, acetaminophen, aspirin and loxoprofen) in different amount. So hopefully, this article would help you out finding a pain killer that suits you.

*Please note that this article contains affiliate links.

-Buying Medicines in Japan

Before we start, here is a little tip for buying OTC medicines at Japanese drugstores and pharmacies. Pain killer/pain relief medicine is called Chintsuzai (鎮痛剤) or Itamidome (痛み止め) in Japanese. So if you don’t remember the names or packages of products, you can always ask “Chintsuzai (or Itamidome) arimasuka? (Do you have pain killers?)” at a shop.

1. EVE A

EVE A (イブA錠) is pain killer tablets with ibuprofen that suppress cause of pain. It also contains ingredients to increase efficacy of ibuprofen and delivers quick and effective relief of pain and fever. Small tablets are easy to take.

Age: over 15 years old
Dose: 2 tablets (with more than 4 hours intervals/no more than 3 doses per day)
Note: Avoid taking on an empty stomach
Official Website: https://www.ssp.co.jp/eve/en/

Besides EVE A, the EVE series has some other pain killers like EVE A EX (イブ A錠 EX) that contains bigger amount of active ingredients than the regular one and EVE QUICK (イブクイック頭痛薬) specially designed to work quickly on headache and to be gentle on stomach.

Shop Online ▷ EVE A/EVE A EX/EVE QUICK

2. Loxonin S

Loxonin S (ロキソニン S) is contains loxoprofen sodium hydrate as a main active ingredient that suppresses the causative agent of pain and fever quickly and provides analgesic and antipyretic effects. It doesn’t contain ingredients that make you drowsy. It’s effective with a single small tablet.

Age: over 15 years old
Dose: 1 tablet (with more than 4 hours intervals/no more than 2 doses per day)
Note: Avoid taking on an empty stomach
Official Website: https://www.daiichisankyo-hc.co.jp/products/details/loxonin-s/

The Loxonin S series has some other products with different active ingredients. Loxonin S plus (ロキソニン S プラス) contains magnesium oxide to reduce stomach upset. Loxonin S Premium (ロキソニン S プレミアム) contains the highest amount of active ingredients of the series and eases pain quickly and effectively while being gentle on stomach.

Shop Online ▷ Loxonin S/Loxonin S plus/Loxonin S Premium

3. Bufferin A

Bufferin A (バファリン A) contains aspirin as an active ingredient that suppress the production of prostaglandin causing pain and fever. Dibuffer HT helps the absorption of the active ingredient and protects stomach. It doesn’t contain drowsiness-inducing ingredients.

Age: over 15 years old
Dose: 2 tablets (with more than 6 hours intervals/no more than 2 doses per day)
Note: Avoid taking on an empty stomach
Official Website: https://www.bufferin.net/products/a.htm

The Bufferin series has other products containing different active ingredients such as Bufferin EX (バファリン EX) that contains loxoprofen sodium hydrate and effectively acts on physical pain and Bufferin Premium (バファリンプレミアム) that contains ibuprofen and acetaminophen, and delivers quick relief of pain and fever.

Shop Online ▷ Bufferin A/Bufferin Premium

4. Norshin Tablets

Norshin Tablets (ノーシン錠) contains acetaminophen as a main active ingredients combined with ethenzamide and caffeine. It delivers a quick pain relief and it’s less likely to cause upset stomach and drowsiness.

Age: over 15 years old
Dose: 2 tablets (with more than 4 hours intervals/no more than 3 doses per day)
Note: Avoid taking on an empty stomach
Official Website: https://www.arax.co.jp/norshin/truth/index.html

There is also a powder type Norshin Powder (ノーシン散剤) for faster action. The Norshin series has Norshin Pure for Children (小中学生用ノーシンピュア) which is specially designed for children age between 7 to 15.

Shop Online ▷ Norshin Tablets/Norshin Powder/Norshin Pure for Children

5. Naron Ace T

Naron Ace T (ナロンエースＴ) is a pain killer containing 4 active ingredients: ibuprofen, ethenzamide, bromvalerylurea and anhydrous caffeine. It blocks the cause and the transmission of pain, and quickly delivers analgesic effect and fever reduction. The small tablets are easy to take.

Age: over 15 years old
Dose: 2 tablets (with more than 4 hours intervals/no more than 3 doses per day)
Note: Avoid taking on an empty stomach
Official Website: https://www.catalog-taisho.com/04089.php

Naron Ace PLUS (ナロンエースプラス) which is more gentle on stomach and Naron Ace Premium (ナロンエースプレミアム) which contains bigger amount of antipyretic analgesics are also available.

Shop Online ▷ Naron Ace T/Naron Ace Premium

-Precautions

Before taking any of these medicines, I advise you to check precautions to prevent side effects and the current symptoms from being worse. Here I noted standard precautions for OTC pain killers.

These medicines should not be used by following persons:

-Who have had allergy or asthma after taking pain killers in past
-Children under 15 years old
-Pregnant women who are expected to give birth within 12 weeks
-Who are under medical treatment, consult with your doctor before use
-Women who are breastfeeding
-Elderly people

Also, please avoid followings:

-Do not take together with other antipyretics/analgesics, cold medicine
-Do not drink alcohol before/after taking these medicines
-Do not use this product continuously for a long term

After all, each medicine has different precautions, so if you have any concerns, please read instructions and precautions carefully or consult with your doctor before using any of these medicines.

Catching cold or having sore throat? Then please check out my picks of top 5 OTC cold medicines at Japanese drugstores.

Thank you very much for reading! For more useful information about living and travelling in Japan, please check out these articles, too!

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