Bought too much in Japan and can't carry it all? Ship it back to Taiwan!

Text & photos byRight-up at a 45-degree angle

Went a little overboard on my northeastern Japan trip—resulting in way too many purchases... Add to that the bulky winter clothes, and my suitcase was about to explode!! That’s when the post office comes to the rescue~~

Just open GOOGLE MAPS, and you’ll easily find all kinds of post offices across Japan, usually near train stations, with larger ones tending to be bigger in size. This time, I found Aomori Post Office right in front of the plaza just outside JR Aomori Station—the big red sign straight ahead is Up~

Actually, the only things I really needed to ship back were the pile on the left—those on the right belong to my friend.

Post office hours are from 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday. Please note that Japanese post offices are also closed on weekends.

You can get free cardboard boxes from supermarkets or, like me, take the lazy route and buy one at the post office to save some hassle. The post office service in Aomori was excellent—they knew we were shipping items and even helped me seal the box. So thoughtful~

It fit perfectly into one box... I placed some clothes around to keep my sweets from getting crushed!

When you tell the post office you’re sending to Taiwan, they’ll give you this international mailing form. Most of the characters are easy to understand. The top-left section is for filling in the sender’s name, address, postal code, and phone number. The top-right has details for the YOKOSO INN Aomori where I was staying. The bottom-right is for the recipient’s name, address, postal code, phone number, as well as the destination country and city.

For the contents, just write something simple—no need to be too detailed. I wrote clothes and books because I had included some heavier food items—just writing “clothes” might’ve seemed a bit off. The right column is for the origin country of commercial goods—didn’t read carefully and wrote Japan, but you actually don’t have to fill that in. The quantity and value of the items? Just estimate roughly how many there are and their approximate worth. Don’t overstate the value either—you might attract unwanted attention... (Then again, if the items are really valuable, shipping isn’t the safest option anyway.) Now for the bottom-right corner: use the dropdown to select what kind of items you’re sending. I chose personal belongings and books. Then enter the total value in yen. Again, just an estimate is fine. Bottom-left: check the box confirming no dangerous goods, and sign.

For this box, including the cost of the cardboard box, it came to a total of 10,200 yen. The main reason for the high cost was the weight—the box wasn’t super heavy, but the charges added up. But now that my suitcase is so much lighter, I can shop some more!! LUCKY~~

Right-up at a 45-degree angle