Japanese doctors, hospitals and pharmacies

[Maciamo]

I can't understand the trouble with finding a pharmacy. The drugstore variety typically stands out like a sore thumb. The ones which have an actual pharmacist and handle dispensing prescription medicines are also pretty easy to spot.

Of course the drugstores are everywhere and easy to find (there are 3 within 1min of my station !), but I found it quite difficult to find the real pharmacy. The nearest from my house is 10min walk and I don't know any other less than 30min walk. And I don't live in an isolated area, there are over 15 convience stores with 5-10min walk from my house.
In comparison, walking in a city like Paris you can't walk more than 2min without stumbling across a (well-indicated) pharmacy. In some European cities, pharmacies are almost as common as telephone booths and certainly more numerous than post offices or even banks.

[PopCulturePooka]

Of course the drugstores are everywhere and easy to find (there are 3 within 1min of my station !), but I found it quite difficult to find the real pharmacy. The nearest from my house is 10min walk and I don't know any other less than 30min walk. And I don't live in an isolated area, there are over 15 convience stores with 5-10min walk from my house.
In comparison, walking in a city like Paris you can't walk more than 2min without stumbling across a (well-indicated) pharmacy. In some European cities, pharmacies are almost as common as telephone booths and certainly more numerous than post offices or even banks.

But why do you need a real pharmacy when most drug stores have an attending pharmacist?

[Mike Cash]

But why do you need a real pharmacy when most drug stores have an attending pharmacist?

Most drugstores (in Japan) have some staff wearing a white lab coat. They're not pharmacists, though. If there isn't some sort of sign outside specifically stating that the store fills prescriptions, then it's a pretty sure bet there's no actual pharmacist on the premises.

As Maciamo indicated, very often the prescription-filling sort of pharmacy may tend to be less than conspicuous. That is because very often they are located within a very short walking distance from a hospital or doctor's office and do practically all of their trade from filling prescriptions. Anyone going there for toothpaste and hair tonic is going to walk away disappointed.

Until a few years ago, practically 100% of prescription medicines were dispensed by the doctor/hospital and you got the prescription filled under the same roof where you got examined. The problem with this was that the area of which medicines to prescribe was the prime area of the national health care system that doctors could abuse to inflate their incomes. In an effort to address the problem of doctors overprescribing, the government loosened the rules and made prescriptions portable. You can get them filled at any pharmacy, so (in theory) the doctor has no financial incentive to load you up with pills and nostrums you don't need.

What actually happened was that a lot of doctors became the owners or major investors in small pharmacies located about an anvil toss away from their clinics. They know that most people will get the prescription filled at their place. Either because it is close and convenient, or out of some feeling that it is what they are supposed to do.

Places which combine aspects of both drugstore and pharmacy under one roof are still in the minority in Japan.

[PopCulturePooka]

Most drugstores (in Japan) have some staff wearing a white lab coat. They're not pharmacists, though. If there isn't some sort of sign outside specifically stating that the store fills prescriptions, then it's a pretty sure bet there's no actual pharmacist on the premises.

Many of the places in Aobadai have a pharmacy in the drugstore. Usually a seperate counter.

Plus I have a few students who are pharmacists (qualified) that work in drug stores.