Sleeplessness after leaving Japan?

It's been 13 days since I came back from a nine day stay in Japan and I still find myself sleeping through most of the day and staying awake at night or waking up at three in the morning and can't go back to sleep.

I'm a little bit wary to take melatonin though. I'm afraid I'll trick myself into thinking I can't sleep without it.

I know most people are back on schedule 3-4 days afterwards, but I simply can't get back on my normal sleep schedule. (Doesn't help that I keep dreaming about Japan either) Any suggestions?

In such a case, I usually go to bed when I want. And I have short sleep till when I should get up. I know it may be a strong-arm method, but it works well!!
I hope you'll get back on your nomal sleep schedule soon :)

I don't know how old you are, but it seems that the older you are, the longer it takes to return to normal sleep patterns. My wife and I used to return from Japan to the midwest with a couple days of jet lag, but now (we're in our late 60's) it takes almost two weeks. I hope that by the time you read this, the problem will have resolved. Try not to worry about it and try not to use any meds to solve the problem - it will only make the final adjustment harder.

You haven't mentioned WHERE you are from, but I assume you are from somewhere, where the time zone is a lot of hours different.
At one stage for business, I traveled from Australia to Europe 9 times in two years(28 hours flying and connecting). The time difference is about 11 hours.
I always booked a flight that arrived early morning, and then stayed up until 10-11pm. This made me tired enough to then sleep until about 6-8am, and that as it!!! Aprt from a little tiredness the next day, my jet lag would be gone.
It's ESSENTIAL to stay up ALL DAY, and not take any naps!! If you take a nap, it will be one more full day of jet lag, at least.

I'm 16 and there's a 15 hour time difference. I followed the advice and I've stopped taking naps and I almost slept through the night last night. I've never been good at sleeping through the night so I think it's finally passing. Thanks for all the responses.