The Post Office in Japan

Much like the former Starbucks employees of the world who analyze every coffee house they enter, as a former sort-of Postal Employee, it is my duty to contemplate Post Offices of other countries. The Post Office address practices here are a little different than the practices in the US (numbers removed to preserve our anonymity, we wouldn't want to get random Japanese junk mail that we can't understand).


Of course, the first thing that I noticed was the orientation of the envelope. It is in profile instead of landscape. Very odd. And the zip code comes first (yes, that is our actual postal code). Then there are the wonderful characters which, while pretty, are difficult for us to read.

Now, if you are interested in sending us mail, it is much easier. You don't have to learn a new alphabet or anything. This basic format, plus 80 US cents, will get your letter to us:
Dan and Angela Kroboth
FirstNumber - SecondNumber Iwatocho #AptNbr
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0832
JAPAN

While we are not posting our complete address here on the internet, we will email it to you if you harass us enough. Our current address remains active until January 10th. Then we will move to another apartment in the same building. However, I have read that mail forwarding works much like the mail forwarding in the US. So don't delay until January 10th to mail us stuff, you can send it today!

It was very exciting, we did receive 2 Christmas letters in the mail. One from the Hines family and one from the Mackenroth family. So we know our address works. Yea!

Oh yes, you can also send us granola bars. Quaker Chewy Chocolate Chunk, specifically. I must stockpile them so that I can eat stuff while I spend a week in the hospital in March.