When your doctor writes you a prescription for medication in Japan, does he/she write the name of the medication in kana, just so there will be no mistake in understanding?

It depends on the medication. A lot of drugs have katakana names, but not all. However, most of the time you don't ever need to touch your prescription, as in most doctor's offices will hand you your medicine inside the office. I've never personally been to a separate pharmacy for anything other than over the counter medicine.

I've gone to pharmacies quite a bit, but as RQ says the names of most medicines are katakana. If not I doubt they use kana; I don't think that using kanji would pose any problem for the people dispensing the medicine.

RandomQuotes Wrote:It depends on the medication. A lot of drugs have katakana names, but not all. However, most of the time you don't ever need to touch your prescription, as in most doctor's offices will hand you your medicine inside the office. I've never personally been to a separate pharmacy for anything other than over the counter medicine.

WOAH. That was not my experience AT ALL. Always had to go to the window after seeing the doctor, been given a script and made to go a separate 薬局 (yakkyoku, not like a 薬屋-kusuriya, which are usually OTC stuff, shampoo, snack foods, etc.) unless I was in a hospital. Same procedure in Osaka as it was in podunk-as-heck Nara. Heck, even one hospital I went to didn't have an in-house pharmacy, had to drag my girlfriend an extra block to get the antibiotics for her tonsillitis.

As for prescriptions... I think they're generally printed out, but I've had them handwritten as well. They will have kanji and kana, especially if you get 漢方薬-kanpouyaku (herbal Chinese-style medicines, usually powdered, like 小青竜湯-shouseiryuutou---don't be confused, they're real drugs, not like the supplements you'll get at home). The dosage and instructions will most likely have kanji as well (you'll probably also see the counter word for tablet, 錠-jyou, drop, 滴-teki, etc.).

Along with that, I always had to supply a doctor's note, or 診断書-shindansho, whenever I took time off. The handwriting on those definitely had kanji, as you would expect, and it was illegible as anything you will ever come across at a Western doctor's office.

Actually, thinking back, even the huge western-style hospital I went to in Osaka had me go to a separate pharmacy, so maybe it's a Kansai-quirk, or RQ has been super lucky? Dunno.

Anyway, here's what my old doctor's notes used to look like. Good luck reading it.

FeloniousMonk Wrote:WOAH. That was not my experience AT ALL. Always had to go to the window after seeing the doctor, been given a script and made to go a separate 薬局 (yakkyoku, not like a 薬屋-kusuriya, which are usually OTC stuff, shampoo, snack foods, etc.) unless I was in a hospital. Same procedure in Osaka as it was in podunk-as-heck Nara. Heck, even one hospital I went to didn't have an in-house pharmacy, had to drag my girlfriend an extra block to get the antibiotics for her tonsillitis.

Most clinics keep their most commonly prescribed drugs on hand, even in Osaka and Nara. You just happened to go to some places that didn't.

Never happened once, and I got sick a lot. Even country docs and two ENTs.

FeloniousMonk Wrote:Never happened once, and I got sick a lot. Even country docs and two ENTs.

Okay.

I have been given drugs directly from the doctor's office when it was medicine that was only for a few days. This happened both in rural areas and in Tokyo -- when I went to the doctor with the flu, they gave me Tamiflu, an anti-nausea medicine, and a fever-reducing powder directly at the clinic.

Quote:don't be confused, they're real drugs, not like the supplements you'll get at home

They might be regulated by the government, but they're still just herbs.

At least in Tokyo, doctors are a lot more specialised, even to the point where it's hard to choose one (I was used to GPs in the UK). If you're going to a 耳鼻咽喉科, they're probably going to have a lot of drugs for common conditions affecting those specific body parts available. I went to a 消化器内科 and got some medicine for my stomach directly from the doc.

jimeux Wrote:At least in Tokyo, doctors are a lot more specialised, even to the point where it's hard to choose one (I was used to GPs in the UK). If you're going to a 耳鼻咽喉科, they're probably going to have a lot of drugs for common conditions affecting those specific body parts available. I went to a 消化器内科 and got some medicine for my stomach directly from the doc.

Yeah, I'm not saying that you guys are liars, I'm just saying that if this a "Does x ever happen?" thread, then I can say from several years of personal experience, that yes, it does. Maybe less in places like Tokyo, or in extremely remote places where they don't have enough traffic for both a Doctor and separate Pharmacist. Believe me, if I could have gotten my meds at the doctor, I would haveーtrying to explain to a pharmacist that you have a punctured eardrum and that they need to write everything down isn't a lot of fun.

My optometrist -did- carry my contacts, so that was one instance where I could (actually had to, rather, since they changed the rules so that you can't mailorder contacts without a current prescription) get what I needed directly from the doctor.

yudantaiteki Wrote:They might be regulated by the government, but they're still just herbs.

Well, one of those herbs is Ephedra. And luckily for me, it works as well on sniffles as it does for making meth.

FeloniousMonk Wrote:Actually, thinking back, even the huge western-style hospital I went to in Osaka had me go to a separate pharmacy, so maybe it's a Kansai-quirk, or RQ has been super lucky? Dunno.

Anyway, here's what my old doctor's notes used to look like. Good luck reading it.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8587/1634...852a_s.jpg

Ahahaha, what the...?
I thought western doctors' handwriting was bad, but this is just wrong, it seems like the fake japanese scribbles I wrote as a kid.

That's actually not the worst handwriting I've seen. It's reasonably legible as far as male handwritten Japanese goes.

yudantaiteki Wrote:That's actually not the worst handwriting I've seen. It's reasonably legible as far as male handwritten Japanese goes.

Can you make out what the note says?

Am I the only future-to-be doc with legible handwriting?!
People mock me already now T_T

john555 Wrote:

yudantaiteki Wrote:That's actually not the worst handwriting I've seen. It's reasonably legible as far as male handwritten Japanese goes.

Can you make out what the note says?

病名：急性気管支炎

上記疾患にて内服治療中今後４日間の安静加療必要の見込みです。

tokyostyle Wrote:

john555 Wrote:

yudantaiteki Wrote:That's actually not the worst handwriting I've seen. It's reasonably legible as far as male handwritten Japanese goes.

Can you make out what the note says?

病名：急性気管支炎

上記疾患にて内服治療中今後４日間の安静加療必要の見込みです。

That's what it looks like to me too.

Tori-kun Wrote:Am I the only future-to-be doc with legible handwriting?!
People mock me already now T_T

Who knows, you might be super popular because of it. ^-^