Feeling ill abroad is where a phrasebook earns its keep. These phrases cover naming the symptom, saying how long it has gone on, and asking a pharmacist for something — the first stop for anything minor in Japan.

Two practical facts. Japanese pharmacies sell weaker over-the-counter medicine than many visitors are used to, so bring what you rely on. And Japan restricts some ingredients that are ordinary elsewhere, notably pseudoephedrine and codeine — check with the Japanese consulate before travelling with prescription medicine, not with a phrasebook.