Medicine

They have the same types of medicine in Japan as they do in the United States. They also have drug stores in Japan where you can buy medicine, again just like in America.

But today I just discovered a big difference - this medicine box. Today someone came to our apartment and dropped this box off with my wife. She told me that she wasn't charged for this box or anything.

Inside the box is cold medicine, flu medicine, head ache medicine and medicine for upset stomachs among others. Don't get me wrong, the medicine isn't free, my wife just doesn't pay for it now.

Feel a little confused? That's OK, it works sort of like an honor box, you know the box of candy at work where if you take a piece of candy, you pay for it. The medicine box works like that, too. The salesperson comes back in three months and you only pay for the medicine that you used.

Being an American, I was immediately suspicious, "How much is the medicine if you use it?" I asked because living in America we all know that something like this would be like drinking the refrigerator booze in a hotel room, in other words like paying like $50.00 for using the cold medicine.

My wife assured me that the cost of the medicine is the same as it would be if you bought it in the store. That's pretty awesome, now if I get sick, I'll have medicine right here to use.

...now if I could just figure out which medicine is for what...