It Is Ten at Night, You Are Sick, and a Plastic Sheet Says Nobody in the Building Can Sell You That.

Why this phrase

Japan's strongest over the counter medicines, the 第1類 class, can only be sold with a licensed pharmacist involved. So when the pharmacist's shift ends, the shop does not close: staff pull a curtain or a plastic sheet across that one shelf and hang a sheet reading 「ただいま薬剤師不在のため、第1類医薬品は販売できません」. The two words to actually recognize are 「薬剤師不在」, no pharmacist on duty. It looks absurd for two seconds and then makes complete sense. The reassuring half of the reveal is that the rest of the store is still open to you. Second and third class medicine, which is most cold medicine, painkillers and stomach remedies, is sold by a different licensed role, so the shelf beside the curtain is fine. One takeaway: read 「薬剤師不在」 and stop hunting for that shelf, then ask what you CAN buy tonight.