Koo-soo-ree

Been awhile everybody! Missed me? I’m sure.

So, let’s say about two weeks or so ago I was nearing the end of yet a second occurrence of a cold/fever and at the same time nearing the end of my small medicine supply. I was dwindled to asking my friends in the dorm for medicine (thanks again guys!) and my sickness began getting worse. Rather upset with and tired of being sick for a whole week I decided to break my little protective bubble of not using or wanting to use kusuri (pronounced as in the title of this post) – the Japanese word for medicine.

The first thing I got was this type of throat lozenge that looked like a lifesaver. I got it out of dire necessity and found that it basically did absolutely nothing. Just a pricey cough drop, no better than those stacked in the picture. Next, a day later, I decided to head to the pharmacy and grab some actual medicine and ended up with this oddly named brand called Paircoal. It had an odd taste and color by comparison to medicine I’ve taken before in the states.

The next morning I felt like a new person. It was like the “make happy” drug. And man it made me not only better in the realm of sickness but made me feel happy for a new day the next morning too! And I took it a few days consecutively and got better really fast, feeling good the whole time. That’s a pretty simple, nice and easy first experience for Japanese medicine. Glad it worked, otherwise I might be sick still now.

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | November 30, 2008