Japan Post Tracking: 5 Essentials for Oversea Beginners

Japan Post Tracking Essentials

Japan Post (日本郵政公社 ) was a government-owned corporation in Japan that existed from 2003 to 2007, offering postal and package delivery services, banking services, and life insurance. 

1. Japan Post Code Rules

Post code may have certain rules that represents certain places. Knowing that may save your time.

All Japanese addresses have a seven-digit post code which is traditionally written at the beginning of the address, followed by the prefecture （ken 県), city （shi 市), ward (ku　区) and then the sub-areas (cho 町 and chome　丁目) and the name of the building if it has one and finally the name of the person - traditionally surname first.

 

2. (International) Delivery Time

International shipping often takes much longer time than domestic one and there are more chances for problems due to the distance. This time table below shows how long it takes to different countries shipped by Japan Post which may help you to tell when you should start worrying about your parcel and need to get some help.

International mail days list・Tokyo International Post Office

Area	Country/Area name		Average number of days
			Air parcels	SAL parcels
Asia	India		8	About 2 weeks
	Indonesia		8	About 3 weeks
	Vietnam		10	no handling
	Rep. of Korea	Seoul	5	no handling
	Singapore		4	About 2 weeks
	Sri Lanka		8	About 3 weeks
	Thailand		7	About 3 weeks
	Taiwan		6	no handling
	China	Shanghai	7	About 2 weeks
		Beijing	7	About 2 weeks
		Hong Kong	6	About 2 weeks
	Pakistan		8	About 2 weeks
	Bangladesh		11	About 3 weeks
	Philippines		10	2 to 3 weeks
	Malaysia		7	About 2 weeks
Oceania	Australia		7	About 2 weeks
	New Zealand		6	About 2 weeks
North America	Canada	Vancouver	6	About 2 weeks
		Montreal	7
	United States of America	San Francisco	8	About 2 weeks
		Chicago	5
		New York	7
		Los Angels	6
	Mexico		-	2 to 3 weeks
Middle East	United Arab Emirates		-	2 to 3 weeks
	Iran		11	no handling
	Saudi Arabia		12	2 to 3 weeks
	Turkey		13	2 to 3 weeks
Europe	Italy		8	2 to 3 weeks
	United Kingdom		6	2 to 3 weeks
	Austria		5	About 2 weeks
	Netherlands		6	About 2 weeks
	Switzerland		6	About 2 weeks
	Sweden		5	About 2 weeks
	Spain		9	2 to 3 weeks
	Denmark		4	About 2 weeks
	Germany		5	About 2 weeks
	Hungary		7	About 2 weeks
	Finland		5	2 to 3 weeks
	France		8	About 2 weeks
	Belgium		6	About 2 weeks
	Poland		8	About 2 weeks
	Russian Federation		9	About 2 weeks
Africa	Egypt		9	About 2 weeks
	Ghana		9	no handling
South America	Argentina		7	2 to 3 weeks
	Brazil		9	About 3 weeks
	Peru		6	2 to 3 weeks

 

3.  Hours

If you are in Japan or want to send something there via Japan Post, it’s much more convenient to know their working hours.

Normal Japanese post offices are usually open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm for mail and Monday-Friday 9am-4pm for other services such as insurance, banking, postal orders and bill payments. Local post offices are closed at weekends and national holidays.

However, each city's central post office (中央郵便局), usually located near the main railway station will have a 24/7 counter. Typically central post offices are open Monday-Friday 9am-7pm, Saturday 9am-5pm and Sunday 9am-12.30pm. Outside those hours an all-night window operates until the post office reopens fully the next day.

District post offices, one per ward (ku), also maintain an after-hours window for nighttime pick-up and posting. Typical hours are Monday-Friday 9am-7pm, Saturday 9am-3pm.

4. International Parcel Post

NORMAL SHIPPING TYPES:

There are three shipping types: Airmail, Surface mail and Economy Air (SAL).

A discount that offers a 10% to 20% available depending on the number of articles posted.

The maximum weight limit is 30 kg. (Weight limits vary by country.)

Procedures are easy and simple. Fill out the special parcel label and paste it on the package.

You can insure your parcels against loss or damage. (The amount of insurance varies by country.)

 

OTHER CHOICES:

International ePacket 

Small items under 2kg can be sent for a cheaper price comparing to EMS (International Express Mail) or to registered small packets.。

The items are sent by airmail.

Tracking service is available for some countries. There is also a maximum 6000-yen insurance.

 

EMS

EMS is the fastest international mail service for sending up to 30 kg of documents and merchandise simply and conveniently to over 120 countries and territories worldwide.

 

Cool EMS

The temperature in the box is kept between 0 and 10 degrees C for the Chilled type and below minus 15 degrees C for the Frozen type. Door-to-door service is provided to meet the customer's needs at low cost.

 

5. Japan Post Tracking

You can track your parcel by your order number on Japan Post’s website or using some other third-party tracking tools (e.g.Trackingmore) which can track multiple packages of worldwide couriers all in one place. Most recent updating information is there. No more worries.

Reference: Japan Post/Japan Visitor