Often when you visit another country, one thing on everyone’s to-do list is a little shopping. It’s always interesting to see what products a foreign country offers that you can’t find back home. It’s also weird and fun to see the products you are familiar with presented in a different way.
One of the main reasons Chinese tourists visit Japan is to shop. It’s not uncommon to see a Chinese visitor enter a store and drop the equivalent of hundreds of U.S. dollars – usually in cash – on seemingly everyday products like clothes or electronics, but in some cases store shelves are picked completely clean.
But what’s on these tourists’ shopping lists? Here are 11 pharmacy products that Chinese visitors simply have to buy when they visit Japan.
When thinking about your next vacation, you normally wouldn’t consider over the counter medicinal goods to be the purpose of your trip. That’s exactly the reason for many Chinese tourists, though, who come to Japan and line up in front of drugstores before they even open. These shoppers will buy a bunch of items in bulk and leave having spent on average 20-30,000 yen, with some big-time shoppers spending close to 50,000 yen at one drug store.
- Eye drops
- Anti-inflammatory medicine
- Liquid bandages
- Cooling patches
- Headache medicine
- Keratin softener
- Cysteine medicine
- Constipation medicine
- Canker sore medicine
- Feminine hygiene products
- Throat lozenges/cough drops
It may seem strange for eye drops to be at the top of the list, but it’s not uncommon for Chinese people to carry them in their purse, back pocket or pencil case. When Chinese shoppers are asked why they buy these in Japan, they reportedly answer, “Chinese products don’t work at all, whereas Japanese items, especially painkillers, are really effective.” We suppose it makes sense to stock up after all!
Another popular commodity is adhesive bandages/plasters, especially amongst women. They claim that Japanese plasters don’t come off when you are cooking or getting your hands wet, making them much more convenient. Adhesive bandages are also cheap and light, so they make for a good souvenir and can be bought in bulk.
Chinese shoppers’ comments that Japanese medicine is more effective might seem odd to expatriates living in Japan, since dosages for painkillers and other medicine are usually quite a bit lower than versions you can find in western countries. However, since China is much closer to Japan than the U.S., Chinese travelers looking to buy some non-prescription drugs will continue to flock to Japan, and around 10 million Chinese tourists are expected to visit Japan this year alone.
If you happen to be suffering from dry eyes while in Japan and pop into a store to find them all sold out of eye drops, now you know why. You may find yourself lining up before the stores open just to get some.
Source: Nikkan Spa!
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© Japan Today
45 Comments
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sensei258
Why aren't Merries diapers on the list? I often see groups of Chinese buying them en masse
SenseNotSoCommon
Wow, there's a new perspective.
Tessa
I agree, it's hard to believe. Maybe something to do with their similar body sizes? Personally I have to take twice the recommended dosage to get any effect.
cleo
There's a sign up in my local Home & Garden shop (which also sells pharmacy products) warning shoppers that children's disposable nappies cannot be bought in bulk.
sighclops
They're mostly for resale, from what I've heard. Would explain the hordes of Chimese tourists you see in Matsukiyos around Tokyo's more central parts.
Alex80
It's like this, indeed.
Papi2013
Sorry, but Japan still has a long ways to go to match the top five ranked countries in tourism.
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/03/most-popular-cities-for-tourists-in-2015.html
Yubaru
I fell off my chair laughing at this one. (And then took 2 Tylenol!)
tmarie
Can I ask why the media is so obsessed with what Chinese tourists are buying? I keep seeing TV shows about it. I get companies caring but locals not involved in this? Why? It just seems more "us" and "them" crap.
And what is with the diaper bulk ban? And why Merries and not Pampers?
Jorge Nihon
Probably tourists number will increase even more ...year by year in Japan ... because : Japan is one of few first world countries ... where the tradition is still intact since centuries ... and chinese tourists are tired of being distract in Paris and Europe ...and today , Japan is much cheaper than Europe for the chinese people ...
paulinusa
Eye drop sales are probably due to the nasty air pollution in certain areas of China.
mountainpear
Japanese pain killers always work fine for me but I am shorter than your average foreigner. @tmarie Because Merries diapers are better than Pampers apparently. Very soft, breathable so babies don't get diaper rash and the capacity to hold a large amount of urine so they need to be changed less often.
Jorge Nihon
*mistreated
Stephen Denney
"Chinese products don’t work at all, whereas Japanese items, especially painkillers, are really effective.” Blimey, Chinese aspirin must really be bad to think this! Most westerners living in japan assume that Japanese painkillers are basically placebos.
Wc626
Hmm, I once bought some Mr. Wang solution from a traditional herbal store in SF china town. This product worked just fine.
Yubaru
One thing not mentioned in the article is that many Japanese drug stores now also have duty free services that allow tourists to get the consumption tax refunded to them for just about all the products that they purchase, including tobacco and alcohol. That 8% is pretty big when buying in bulk.
In Okinawa foreign tourists rank Kokusai St as the No. 1 location (shopping) No. 2 are department stores (more shopping) No. 3 are convenience stores (more and more shopping) and No 4....drug stores. Shopping, go figure.
I often see Chinese tourists getting off the monorail with empty suitcases and getting back on, heading to Naha AP loaded down with all sorts of stuff. They are literally keeping one local drug store in business.
ThePBot
tmarie
So that people will hate them more while their businesses are making money from them. Killing 2 birds with one stone. This is Abe type of stuff.
harvey pekar
Who cares? Let Chinese people and anyone for that matter shop in peace. Do they really need so-called journos with cameras following them from store to store?
Yubaru
Might I ask what "stupid" country you were educated in, or wait, no education right?
GW
Yubaru,
I hope they were IMPORTED Tylenol(there are J-Tylenol) 0therwise you need to take 5-6 pills & pray for relief!
Yubaru
Yes they were, and I would probably need a whole bottle! Japanese over the counter meds are a literal joke.
Garthgoyle
Tmarie
There was an article a while ago about this. It said that Chinese would go to a pharmacy and buy them in bulk to then resell them in China. While leaving the locals, who really needed them, unable to buy diapers because the Chinese bought the entire supply. Why Merries? Don't personally know.But according to the article, in China people think they are far superior than whatever brand they have over there.
DVDexpert
"What Chinese tourists are buying in Japan"
Japan
tmarie
Garth, if true, hilarious. This is the same country that hoards butter and toilet paper but I guess since its Chinese folks doing the buying...
Can't say I've ever heard a J mom say Merries is better. Perhaps Chinese snobbery as pampers is available there? (I'm guessing Merrues is not)
Yubaru
Japan is just getting a taste of what it did in other places during the bubble years.
nath
Merries are availble in China, but the Chinese figure that the ones made in Japan are better quality.
Paustovsky
I am heartened to see that several comments have seen through the paper-thin veneer of nonsense articles like this and highlighted the tawdry sub-text.
It is just embarrassing now.
TheTiger
Thank God for foreign capital
tmarie
Merries are availble in China, but the Chinese figure that the ones made in Japan are better quality.
But are they? I can't help think this is just snobbery.
wtfjapan
Actually the best brand of diapers weve found were pampers. They dont leak even when your kid has done a bath sized pee. And they dont they breath better dont leave a rash. Weve tried they all on our two kids and pampers won easily
Scrote
A US professor told me his Chinese student would fill his suitcase with face masks when travelling back home. They can be sold for a much higher price in China (he said).
nath
I have no idea whether they are or not, but that's the perception. I'm not sure how it would be snobbery though - the Chinese think the Japanese make a better product. Snobbery would be thinking your own country's product is better simply because it's your own company's product.
afanofjapan
Young Chinese couple in front of me at the registers in Don Qixote one night bought 180,000 yen worth of cosmetics and medicines. It was two shopping trolleys (4 baskets) stacked high and i think the teller just gave them a full pack of shopping bags. Outside they started packing it into two massive suitcases (in the middle of the street, of course). I just thought they might have a LOT of friends to buy omiyage for
Wc626
I bet that looked real classy.
tmarie
Snobbery in terms of "I bought mine in Japan!". Lord knows I hear crap like that with foreigners when discussing shopping and the like.
nath
I see what you mean. That's definitely possible. But conversely, Merries in China being of a lesser quality is equally plausible.
Brian Wheway
I thought that Chinese people hated Japan? do they make exceptions when it come to shopping for drugs and other goods?
nath
It's an over-generalization. Some Chinese people hate Japan. Not all of them by any means.
Triring
Brian Wheway
If they really hated Japan they wouldn't come hording and you would not see this kind of article in the first place.
savethegaijin
I'm actually surprised diapers aren't on the list. I use Merries pantsu type for my one year old during the day and Pampers at night. Merries (and Japanese diapers in general) are very soft and comfortable for a wiggly baby (and actually Moonies too!). But Pampers are basically leak free (why I use them overnight) but smell a bit chemically for me to want to put them on my kid all day.
I don't get the part about the medicine, but I'm American and we like our OTC meds to get the job done first try.
nath
Most Chinese people don't believe the nonsense that their government spins.
Japan is a luxury vacation for them with a similar enough culture for them to feel at home with.
I am not sure about the article though because there is a different demographic of extremely wealthy tourists who come to Japan shopping for luxury goods.
I guess this refers only to the economy class mass tourists on package holidays.
electric2004
Also here in Germany near Frankfurt Airport, actually near a hotel that is used by Air China for their cabin attendants, one can see many of the Air China flight attendants flocking to the local drug store and buying things in large amounts.
Brian Wheway
Strangeland, Iam sure its the propaganda machine spewing out its hate, Iam sure there is a new generation of youngsters who don't know anything about there history of there country,
nath
Are you talking about Chinese kids or Japanese kids?
Anyways, my friend in China pointed me at this link the other day: http://www.chengduliving.com/dont-believe-chengdu-protest-hype/