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Whether it’s to send a postcard from your travels or a box full of goodies to your friends back home, you’re bound to need to visit the post office while you’re living in Japan. It can be difficult to find English-speaking staff, so it’s best to go equipped with some Japanese phrases to use for the post office.
Read on to learn more!
Useful vocabulary
Post offices, or 郵便局 yūbinkyoku, in Japan are a great service, but they aren’t the most English-friendly places. As mentioned, it can be hard to find English-speaking staff and you won’t find a lot of English at most post offices in Japan.
To help make it less of a bewildering experience, here are some Japanese words that you might need.
普通郵便 futsūyūbin – ordinary mail 船便 funabin – surface mail (by ship) 航空便 kōkūbin – airmail 速達 sokutatsu – special/express delivery e.g. urgent mail, 国際スピード郵便 kokusaisupi-doyūbin – Express Mail Service (EMS)
Note: you would normally use surface mail (the cheapest option), airmail (the main option) or EMS (fastest but most expensive option) to send post and parcels overseas.
Note that from January 1, 2021 you need to print out your package label for international packages, rather than write the label out by hand. Visit the official Japan Post website for more information.
The form will be in English if you access through the English website, but it’s always good to know some Japanese words that you’ll commonly see anyway.
氏名 shimei – full name 電話番号 denwabangō – phone number 郵便番号 yūbinbangō – postal code
If you have everything packaged up already and you just want to send it off, you can say to the staff: これを送りたいんですが,～までお願いします。 Kore o okuritain desu ga, ～ made onegaishimasu. I would like to send this, please send to ～ (the name of the country, or prefecture/city if you want to send within Japan).
To get more specific, you can say:
航空便で送りたいのですが… Kōkūbin de okuritai no desu ga. I would like to send by airmail please.
If you want to double-check the price, say:
すみません、これ航空便で送るといくらぐらいかかりますか？ Sumimasen, korekōkūbin de okuruto ikura gurai kakarimasuka? Excuse me, how much approximately would this be to send by airmail?
If that’s too much of a mouthful, you can also say:
送料はいくらですか? Sōryō wa ikura desuka? How much is shipping?
Or if you want to double-check how long it’ll take to arrive:
航空便ならどの位時間がかかりますか？ Kōkūbin nara dono gurai jikan ga kakarimasuka? Around how long will it take to arrive by airmail?
If you’re sending a letter or postcard and need a stamp, you can say:
切手をください。 Kitte o kudasai. A stamp please.Note that the counter for stamps is 枚mai. For more about how to count in Japanese, read our article on Japanese counters.
For example, you would say:
84円切手を2枚ください。 Hachijūyon-en kitte o ni mai kudasai. Two 84 yen stamps please.
You can also use this same structure to ask for a box if you haven’t already packaged up your parcel e.g.
箱おを願いします。 Hako o onegaishimasu. A box please.
But we would recommend you package your parcel before you arrive at the post office as their range of packaging can be limited.
While the process of using a post office in Japan can be daunting for the first time, the Japanese you need for the post office isn’t difficult. The staff tend to be very helpful when they see you’re a foreigner and you’ll get the hang of it once you use the post office a few times. If in doubt, ask a Japanese friend if they can help you get the hang of things!
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