Japan's mail service is highly efficient and fast, with post offices ( yubin-kyoku ) all over the country, easily identified by their red-and-white signs of a T with a parallel bar across the top, the same symbol that you'll find on the red letterboxes. Letters posted within Japan should get to their destination in one to two days, and all post can be addressed in Western script ( romaji ) provided it is clearly printed.

Inside urban post offices there are separate counters, with English signs, for postal and banking services; in central post offices you can also exchange money, at rates comparable to those in banks. Within Japan, a stamp ( kitte ) for a letter up to 25g costs ¥80, and for a postcard ( hagaki ) ¥50. For overseas post to anywhere in the world, it costs ¥70 to send a postcard and ¥90 for an aerogram. Letters up to 25g cost ¥90 to Asian destinations, ¥110 to North America, Australasia, Europe and the Middle East, and ¥130 to Africa and South America. Each extra 25g costs ¥50, ¥80 and ¥100 respectively. Stamps are also sold at convenience stores, shops displaying the post office sign, and at larger hotels.

If you need to send bulkier items or parcels back home, all post offices sell reasonably priced special envelopes and boxes for packaging, with the maximum weight for an overseas parcel being 20kg. A good compromise between expensive air mail and lengthy sea mail is Surface Air Lifted (SAL) mail, which takes around three weeks to reach most destinations, and costs between the two.

Central post offices generally open Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 9am to 12.30pm, with most other branches opening Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm only. A few larger branches may also open on a Saturday from 9am to 3pm, and may operate after-hours services for parcels and express mail. The Tokyo International Post Office, next to Tokyo Station, is open daily 24 hours for both domestic and international mail .

Poste restante ( tomeoki or kyoku dome ypbin ) is available at the larger central post offices in the big cities, but mail will only be held for thirty days before being returned. The same goes for American Express offices (which only accepts mail for card holders), unless it's marked "please hold for arrival". American Express has offices in Tokyo .

For sending parcels and baggage around Japan, take advantage of the excellent, inexpensive takuhaibin (or takkypbin , as it's more commonly known after the successful tradename of one of the courier companies) or courier delivery services , which can be arranged at most convenience stores, hotels and some youth hostels. These services - which typically cost under ¥2000 - are especially handy if you want to send luggage (usually up to 20kg) on to places where you'll be staying later in your journey or to the airport to be picked up prior to your departure.