Send Letters and Parcels FROM/TO Japan

FROM Japan

Japan Post has international mailing services.
http://www.post.japanpost.jp/index_en.html
You write the address in English for international mails.

 

Description of Japan Post International Mailing Services

Many kinds of services on the website can confuse you, so I made up a summary here.

Post Cards

Sending a postcard internationally costs 70 yen for Airmail (3 to 7 days to arrive), 60 yen for Surface Mail (1 to 3 months to arrive).

 

Size Definition of a Post Card: (14 to 23.5 cm)×(9 to 12 cm)
The longer side has to be more than 1.4 times as long as the shorter side.

 

Envelopes

Standard Size: (14 to 23.5 cm)×(9 to 12 cm)×(up to 1 cm)
up to 50 g
around 90 to 110 yen for Airmail (depends on the weight and the country you send to), around 7days to arrive

 

Non-Standard Size: The longest side is up to 60 cm
The total of 3 sides is up to 90 cm
up to 2 kg
around 220 to 260 yen for Airmail (depends on the weight and the country you send to), arrive in around 7 days

 

Greeting Cards

Write "Christmas Card," "Birthday Card," "Greeting Card" etc, on the letter. And you possibly get some discounts at Post Office no matter which it is a card of standard size or not.

 

How to Send Post Cards & Envelopes

Let's take your letter(s) to any post office. The post officer will weigh it and tell you how much. Pay the money and leave your letter to the fast and trustworthy Japanese postal service.

 

Just in case you have a problem with communication, show him or her this phrase in Japanese, which will put your letter in transit.
「航空便で送ってください」 = "Please send this via Airmail."
cf: Easy Conversations in Japanese Language
"Airmail" in Japanese = pronounce "ko-ku-bin" or say "airmail" in English

 

If you have Japanese stamps and are sure of how to send it, just put the stamp(s) on your letter and post it into the RIGHT pocket of a mailbox.
(Japanese mailboxes are red, around 1-meter-high boxes with right and left pockets.)

 

You cannot send CASH through postal service in Japan.

 

Parcels

EMS (Express Mail Service) is cheap (from 900 yen), safe and fast with Tracking Number. I recommend it.
You can send up to 30 kg of documents and goods from post offices.
To send your parcel(s) through EMS, take it to any post office.

 

Official Website
http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/ems/index_en.html

 

Just in case you have a problem with communication, show the post officer this phrase in Japanese, which will put your letter in transit.
「EMSで送ってください」 = "Please send this via EMS."
cf: Easy Conversations in Japanese Language

 

Post Offices tend to close early. If you want to make sure, you go there by 16:00.

 

Japan Post English Customer Service
Phone Number: 0570-046-111 (8:00-22:00 on weekdays, 9:00-22:00 on holidays)

 

 

TO Japan

Tokyo and other cities in Japan have many zip/postal codes; there is not a specific zip code for each town and prefecture.
If you are looking for the zip/postal code for somewhere in Japan, the following link will be helpful.

 

http://lookup.addressdoctor.com/lookup/default.aspx?lang=en

 

Choose the country and put the city, street number etc you have, and this website automatically looks up the code.

 

Example: How to write a Japanese address in English

 

Mr.Taro Google
10-1, Roppongi 6-Chome,
Minato-ku, TOKYO,
106-6126 JAPAN

 

1, Name.
2, Street (and room in some cases) number. In many cases, it is composed of 2 to 4 numbers with hyphens (like 6-10-1). If you are not sure about the idea of Chome, just write "6-10-1, Roppongi". Japanese postal workers will manage it, so I rather recommend this style.
The order of the numbers is important, so don't change it.
3, Town, then Prefecture,
4, A zip/postal code is composed of 3 + 4 numbers with a hyphen (like 106-6126). Finally, country.

 

cf: The address above in Japanese:
〒106-6126 東京都港区六本木6-10-1
グーグル太郎