Japanese convenience stores can finally sell over-the-counter medicine.

This is a country where you can buy whiskey and soiled panties from a vending machine, but not Tylenol from a convenience store. From Japan Times:

Convenience stores and supermarkets on Monday began selling nonprescription drugs, some around the clock, as deregulation under a revised pharmacy law took effect.

Under the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, stores are no longer required to be staffed with a pharmacist to sell most nonprescription drugs, including cold tablets and aspirin, and can sell them simply by having sales clerks qualify and register with prefectural governments.

The entry by large-scale distributors into the drug retail market has pressed existing drugstore businesses to enhance their sales efforts, including by extending operating hours with their own registered sales clerks.