International Mail
Revision 1: Services for which rates will be revised
Please click on the name of each service for the new rates.
Mail subject to revision
Printed Matter (excluding low-cost Printed Matter)
Special mailbags for Printed Matter (excluding low-cost Printed Matter)
Priority bulk airmail and Nonpriority bulk airmail
Mail for international business reply service (IRBS) (Only for Letters and Postcards.)
Special services subject to revision
- Registered Mail (Excluding special mailbags for Printed Matter)
- Insured Mail (Only for regular mail)
- Advice of Delivery
Revision 2: Discontinuation of International ePacket
International ePacket mail rates will be discontinued.
From now on, please use an equivalent service such as Registered Mail or Small Packet Mail (air transport).
Revision 3: Zone changes for regular mail
Zones for regular mail will be changed to five zones to match those for parcels and EMS items.
| Until Sat., Sep. 30, 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Zone 1 | Asia |
| Zone 2 | Oceania, Canada, Central America, Middle East, Europe |
| Zone 3 | South America, Africa |
| Zone 4 | The United States (Including overseas territories such as Guam) |
| Effective October 1st, 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Zone 1 | China, South Korea, Taiwan |
| Zone 2 | Asia (excluding China, South Korea, Taiwan) |
| Zone 3 | Oceania, Canada, Mexico, Middle East, Europe |
| Zone 4 | The United States (including overseas territories such as Guam) |
| Zone 5 | Central and South America (excluding Mexico), Africa |
Revison 4 Change of weight categories
- The minimum weight category for letters transported by surface mail will be changed to 25g.
- The minimum weight category for Printed Matter will be changed to 50g.
- Weight categories for printed materials transported by air will be changed in 100g increments up to 2kg.
Weight categories for printed materials exceeding 2kg and transported by air will be changed to 1kg increments.
Revision 5: Termination of publication and sale of Aerogrammes and International Postcards.
Aerogrammes and International Postcards will cease to be sold as of Sep. 30.
International Postcards with affixed postage stamps will continue to be accepted after Oct. 1, but Aerogrammes will no longer be available as of Oct. 1.
- After discontinuation, you can still use Aerogrammes as letters by affixing suitable postage stamps.
Press release materials on partial revision, etc. of international postage rates
FAQs
The rates are planning to change Sunday 1 October 2023.
EMS items and parcels have five rate zones, so we unified the rate zones for regular international mail from four to five as well in order to make the zones easier to understand according to the cost structure.
The resuming has not yet been determined.
We have been setting International ePacket mail as special service in order to promote the use of International Mail My Page Service, which allows users to prepare invoices online.
Due to the mandatory electronic data transmission for customs clearance to the United States and Europe, however, the level of online usage is becoming extremely high and the special service for online use will be abolished as it has finished its role.
For your information, an equivalent service, Small Packet Mail (air transport/registered mail), is still available.
This is because the number of sales of aerogrammes and the number of private aerogrammes sent is extremely small.
We will abolish the handling of aerogrammes, so they cannot be sent as aerogrammes. For your information, you can still sent them as standard-sized mail by erasing the mark of "AEROGRAMME", etc.
In this case, you need to put stamps equivalent to the difference in postage from the standard-sized mail to send them.
They can be exchanged with other postal stamps for free from October 1, 2023 for the time being.
(Until September 30, 2023, they can be exchanged with other postal stamps upon payment of a prescribed exchange fee.)
This is because private postcards account for a large percentage of postcards sent to foreign countries, and sales of international postcards issued/sold by Japan Post have been sluggish.
On or after October 1, 2023, they can be sent as international postcards if you put stamps equivalent to the difference in postage from the rate for international postcards after the rate revision.
(Difference in postage of international postcards transported by air: 30 yen)
They can be exchanged with other postal stamps for free from October 1, 2023 to November 30, 2023.
((1) Until September 30, 2023, (2) on or after December 1, 2023, they can be exchanged with other postal stamps upon payment of a prescribed exchange fee.)
