The mail system in Japan

I love any excuse to share a mailbox! I collect photos of mailboxes in Japan. So when I heard that today is the Postal (Mail) System Implementation Memorial Day 郵便制度施行記念日 (yuubin seido shiki kinenbi), I just had to write about it! You will find other posts on City-cost about the mail system in Japan as well as several mailbox photos. However, a lot of them use the British word "postbox" so search for that rather than "mailbox". 

January 24th marks the day Japan’s modern postal system officially took off. Before this, people relied on hikyaku couriers—fast runners, sure, but not exactly a nationwide system. Everything changed in 1871 when there was a push for a more structured, reliable postal network. Thanks to that, the first post offices opened in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, and mail delivery between Tokyo and Osaka took about three days and six hours. Pretty impressive for the era.

From there, the system expanded quickly to places like Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Hakodate, and Niigata. Even local village leaders (名主) were asked to turn parts of their homes into postal handling spots, which helped spread the service across the country.

The mailbox in this photo is from Nishi Ward in Saitama City.