vitamins, supplements in Japan

Is it easy to find vitamins, minerals and other dietary supplements in Japan. I searched for stores like the Vitamin Shoppe, GNC or Life Extension Products in Japan using google, but could not find any such stores, even online ones. I will be going to Tokyo soon. Thanks. mich

A fairly large range of vitamins and supplements are available at pretty much all drugstores. You might not be familiar with some of the supplements and health foods because a lot of them are from the kampo (traditional Chinese medicine) tradition. I've never seen a shop dealing exclusively in vitamins and supplements in Japan- the closest thing would be the shops specialising in kampo.

If you post saying what kinds of vitamins and supplements you particularly want, either I or someone else can let you know if they are readily available here.

Vitamin supplements are even available at bigger convenience stores.

Hi Sira,
Thanks very much for your offer to help. I just found out that everything+more is available even online. All I needed was to change my search strategy in Google. When I searched for only the web sites located in Japan using the site:jp filter, I found hundreds of sites. They were all in Japanese, but then Google can also translate. Thanks again. Mich

I went to a huge store in Koenji (almost like a pharmacy, like an American Rite-Aid/Wal-Greens or a British Boots) which had vitamins from a popular American brand. (The name of which escapes me but they have a yellow and brown bottle.) They're written in both English and Japanese. They had lots and lots of them.

Mich,

you can get "Nat.. Ma.." stuff at any drugstore. The price you have to pay over here might be higher than in the States or Europe, though.

Some of the stuff I need / use is ordered from the States ... even with postage it comes cheaper.

If you have more questions you can also mail me klausdorth(at)web.de.

The brand is Nature Made and is available at supermarkets and drug stores.

Kulachan
I agree that it is better to order from the States, even with the import duty, it may be cheaper and also would be the exact kind you want. But how easy it is to import such products into Japan and how long would it take for the package to clear the customs? (I know that in some countries the process might be sometimes rather long and you may have to go to the customs office personnaly) What is your experience in this regard. Do you recommend any particular shipping company like DHL or Fedex. Thanks
ron

I hope you don't mind if I ask another question in this topic. Has any of you ever seen rutin suplement? You can get them no problem in my country, but as far as my research revealed, they only prescribe rutin here in Japan if you've got heart problems... But I really need it! Thanks.

.... sorry for being late, but - ......!!

Anyways, I never had any problems with this company: Maggies Cottage, located in the States. Price ok, delivery time GREAT, very reliable. They got all kind of stuff. When I ordered from there the items arrived within a week, no problem (so far) with customs! Just google or yahoo for the store, and sorry, this is not meant to be an ad .... just a very satisfied customer who wants to help others!

Ana
Your best bet for finding rutin in Tokyo might be “American Pharmacy” in Maru Bldg, Marunouchi. They have a large selection of Solaray and Douglas Lab vits/minerals. Kushiro online pharmacy also has a selection of other brands, see http://kushiroph.com/ Their web site is in Japanese, but google can translate it. Also they respond to emails in English. I think Quercetin is partially converted to rutin in the body, so if you can find it, it may also help.

Thanks for your help. I know Japanese well enough, but it doesn't make things any easier. Apparently you could buy rutin supplements on amazon and in other online stores until recently, but not anymore; it always says "out of stock". I wonder whether rutin's been banned or what? I'll go and check American Pharmacy then (it seems like there is one in Tachikawa, much closer to where I live), but I guess if it's imported it would be very expensive?

Okay, so I decided to order one from https://www.supmart.com/. Wasn't even that expensive. Still wondering why you can't just buy it in pharmacy...