Japanese mail query
 

ok... this is probably a stupid question but here goes anyway:

my husband and i have just rented an apartment in japan, when we got back to the apartment yesterday we'd got a red/black printed post office slip pushed through the door to say a parcel from home had arrived.

now this is the stupid part - it states the senders address and the date they tried to deliver the parcel and clearly says post office in red at the top but i'm ashamed to say i can not read any japanese and have no idea what i'm supposed to do with it?

is it like back home where i take it to a post office or delivery depot to collect the parcel? and if it is how do i know which post office it is??

Any ideas/info would be gratefully appreciated!!

Thank you

Gina x

You take it to the main post office in your area. All the packages are taken back to the big post office in your area - for example, if you live in a small town, it should have been sent back to the main town post office. A larger city will have multiple "main" post offices - you`d just go to the main one for your area.
They`ll ask for identification, but that`s about it.


On the other hand, you can also fill it out and drop it into a post box - but I doubt that would work as if you can`t read it, it would be very hard to write it!

If you PM me with most of your address, I`ll look up the main post office in your area for you. :)

Edit: I just noticed you`re in Tokyo - you`d go to the ku post office if you live inside the main city limits. If you don`t, then it will most likely be your chou post office.

Does the slip not have the telephone for the English help line? I am never home when packages are due to arrive, but you can call them and schedule another delivery attempt for usually the same day between 7 and 9 pm. I have fallen in love with Japan's postal for this very reason. Even when I missed the Kuro Neko (Black Cat) delivery, I just started calling every number on the slip asking, "Eigowo hanesemasuka? (Do you speak English?)" Eventually I got in touch with customer service and had the package in about an hour. Let's see UPS or FedEx beat that!