photo by freedomwheels
2016 is about to end. Year end and New Year’s Day, the biggest holiday season in Japan is coming up soon. You may be planning something exciting like going somewhere on holiday or visiting family in your country. By the way, have you ever experienced overflowing mail box while you are away from home for long? Not just looking messy, it sometimes cause a trouble like losing an important mail. To avoid unexpected troubles, you can submit a notification of absence at your local post office to hold mails. This service hold all mails addressed to you up to 30days.
What is notification of absence?
By submitting a notification of absence at your local post office, Japan Post will hold things sent to your postal address for free during the period you applied for, and deliver everything after the period expires. This hold mail service can last up to 30 days. You need to submit it in person at the delivering post office in your area or the closest post office. To apply for hold mail service, you need to bring;
- Notification of absence (The form can be obtained from post office counter or online)
- Photo ID (E.g. driver license, residence card, National Health Insurance card)
- Inkan
How to fill in the form
The notification of absence form is quire straightforward. Just fill in the area boxed red in the above picture. You only need to submit the top half of the form and keep the rest for your reference. Copy the period you have applied for at the bottom of the form.
Fill in the area boxed in red.
①Date of submission
②Address
③Name and inkan (seal)
④Phone number
⑤Period you wish to hold mail（Up to 30days）
You can obtain the notification of absence form at the post office or download from Japan Post website. In both cases, only Japanese forms are available. If you can fill the form in Japanese by yourself, take the completed form to a post office. If not, tell the post office staff you want to submit a notification of absence and ask for assistance.
All the years on a notification of absence should be written in Japanese year (gengo). If you don’t know what year it is, check it with the converter.
Tips
- A notification of absence must be submitted at one of the branch offices that is administered by the main office of the area. Hold Mail service can be set up on weekends and public holidays as long as the post office is open.
- Hold Mail service cannot be commenced on the day of application. The service starts on next business day at earliest. Allow a certain period of time before commencement date when you apply for the service.
- The duration of Hold Mail service must be no longer than 30days.
- Once the Hold period ends, all the held mail will be delivered to your address on next business day.
- Once Hold request is set up, everything sent to your postal address will be held for the duration of Hold service. If you have other persons living in your address, you cannot request Japan Post to hold part of the mail sent to particular person living at your address.
- Hold Mail service must be set up for the period everyone is away from the address. If anyone is staying at the address during the Hold period, Japan Post will cancel the service and deliver all the held mail to your address.
- After submission of a notification of absence, you will receive a confirmation letter from Japan Post. Check if all the details are correct.
Prevention is better than cure
Hold mail is a handy service when you go on holiday or go home temporarily. Maximum period of 30 days seems to be rather short when compared to the similar services in other countries. But this is a free service. Having your mail box overflowed is not just messy but it is also very careless to tell everyone there is no one in the house. So make sure to submit a notification of absence to Japan Post when you are going to go away.
Related Article:
Moving house? Don’t forget mail redirection: Change of address notice
Moving house? Don’t forget mail redirection: Online application
Sending parcels overseas? Use Japan Post’s international services
