The short version
- File a tenkyo todoke (転居届) with Japan Post before or right after you move — it forwards first-class mail addressed to your old apartment to the new one, free, for one year.
- The forwarding request only covers Japan Post mail. It does not cover parcels from Yamato, Sagawa, or other private carriers, and it skips anything stamped "転送不要" (do not forward), which is common on bank and card mail.
- Missed a delivery? Each carrier runs its own redelivery request: an app or member site for Yamato, an app or LINE account for Sagawa, and an app, LINE account, or phone/QR code for Japan Post's own parcels.
- A Japanese address is written wide-to-narrow (postal code, then prefecture, city, block, building); flip that order for an English-language label, and always spell out JAPAN in capitals.
- If you move often — share-house residents especially — set a calendar reminder to refile the forwarding request every time, since it's tied to the address, not your name.
Two different problems get lumped together under "my mail isn't reaching me," and they need two different fixes. One is mail still going to your old address after you've moved out. The other is a parcel that showed up while you were out and is now sitting at a delivery office somewhere with a slip in your mailbox you can't quite read. This guide covers both, plus the address-writing basics that make the first one less likely to happen again.
Fix 1: stop mail from going to your old address
Japan Post runs a forwarding service called tenkyo todoke (転居届, "change of address notification"). Once it's on file, first-class mail and most standard parcels addressed to your old apartment get automatically redirected to the new one — free, for one year from the date you register.
You can file it three ways:
- At a post office counter, with ID showing your old and new addresses
- By dropping a paper form (available at any post office) in a postbox
- Online through e-Tenkyo, which requires a verified yu-ID account and lets you enter both addresses from your phone or computer
Registration takes roughly three to seven business days after you submit it, so file it as close to your move date as you can — a request submitted the week before you move covers you better than one filed after mail has already started bouncing.
| Covered | Not covered |
|---|---|
| Regular letters and postcards sent via Japan Post, addressed to your old address | Mail stamped "転送不要" (do not forward) — banks, card issuers, and city offices use this stamp often, specifically so it can't quietly follow you |
| Most Japan Post parcels (yu-pack, letter-pack) addressed to your old address | Anything shipped through Yamato, Sagawa, or another private carrier — each of those runs its own separate change-of-address process, if it offers one at all |
The "転送不要" exception matters more than it looks: it means the one piece of mail you most need to actually get — a new bank card, a reissued residence-related notice — is exactly the kind that won't follow you automatically. Update your address directly with your bank, employer, and city office as its own separate step; don't rely on the postal forwarding to catch it.
Fix 2: getting a parcel you missed
A missed delivery leaves a slip (不在連絡票) in your mailbox with a tracking or inquiry number and a phone number. Every major carrier also supports requesting redelivery without a phone call, and the options differ by company.
| Carrier | Redelivery options | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Yamato (Kuroneko Yamato) | Kuroneko Members app or site ("My荷物一覧" → select the parcel → request redelivery); the link in the missed-delivery notification email works too | Members can also redirect a parcel to a convenience store or Yamato pickup point instead of redelivery — but only once per parcel. |
| Sagawa Express | Sagawa's app (scan the QR code on the slip, or enter the branch and inquiry numbers manually) or its LINE official account | Registering with Sagawa's "Smart Club" member service lets you see upcoming and arrived parcels in one place, not just the ones you missed. |
| Japan Post (yu-pack, letter-pack) | The Japan Post app, its "Posukuma" LINE official account, or the phone number/QR code on the slip | Japan Post is the one carrier here that also runs the address-forwarding service above — two related but separate features in the same app. |
All three apps and LINE flows are available in Japanese by default; a translation app or your phone's built-in translation feature is usually enough to get through them, since the fields are short and the layout doesn't change once you've seen it once.
Reading and writing a Japanese address
Japanese addresses run wide to narrow: postal code, prefecture, city or ward, block and lot number, then building name and unit. English convention runs the other way, narrow to wide, which is why a Japanese address translated into English looks backward at first glance.
For example, 東京都新宿区西新宿2-8-1 becomes, in English order: 2-8-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 163-8001, JAPAN. Keep JAPAN capitalized and at the end — international mail is sorted by country first, and a missing or buried country name is a common cause of delayed international parcels addressed to you from overseas.
When you're filling in a Japanese form (the tenkyo todoke included), write the address in the standard Japanese order and don't try to convert it — postal and delivery staff expect it wide-to-narrow, in Japanese, on domestic paperwork.
If you move often, this is worth repeating
The forwarding request is tied to the address, not to you — moving a second or third time means filing a new tenkyo todoke each time, and it lapses automatically after a year even if you're still there. That makes it an easy thing to forget if you're the kind of resident who changes addresses on a shorter cycle than most, share-house residents among them, since share-house contracts often run month to month and residents move between properties more often than typical apartment renters. Setting a reminder for moving day, alongside the utilities and internet setup you're already juggling, is the realistic way to keep it from slipping.
What this guide doesn't cover
This is a guide to the mechanics of forwarding and redelivery, not a private mail-forwarding or virtual-mailbox service comparison — several commercial services exist for residents who want a dedicated scanning or holding address, but this guide sticks to the free public system and each carrier's own official tools first. It also doesn't cover international parcel forwarding out of Japan (a different problem, for a different guide), and it isn't a substitute for updating your address directly with your bank, employer, and city office, which is a separate step from postal forwarding.
Where this connects
This tends to come up right after the basics of moving in are settled; our move-in checklist for utilities, furniture, and your first week covers what usually happens before mail and packages even become a concern. If you're weighing where to live in the first place, our comparison of share house, regular apartment, monthly, and guest house living and our comparison of share-house operators are the earlier decision this guide assumes you've already made. And if a home router or fiber line is part of what's being delivered to your new address, our guide to home internet options in Japan covers setup and, in some cases, install-day logistics. And if it's the account sign-up form itself giving you trouble rather than the mail that follows, our field-by-field guide to entering a Japanese address online covers the postal-code lookup and the banchi/building-name split those forms use.
Sources
Consulted 2026-08-05, via search-engine results and snippets citing the official domains below. This working environment's direct page fetch was blocked (HTTP 403) for the official Japan Post, Yamato, and Sagawa domains checked while writing this article, so the specifics above — the one-year forwarding window, the "転送不要" exception, processing time, and each carrier's redelivery channels — are based on search-engine snippets that quote or summarize these official pages, not a complete direct read of the pages themselves. Treat the general framework as reasonably solid and confirm current details on the linked pages before relying on them.
- Japan Post — Change of Address / Forwarding Service (転居・転送サービス): post.japanpost.jp — tenkyo/forwarding service
- Japan Post — e-Tenkyo online forwarding registration: lp.jpetn.pf.japanpost.jp — e-Tenkyo guide
- Japan Post — Post Office App (redelivery and tracking): post.japanpost.jp — Post Office App
- Yamato Transport — requesting redelivery: kuronekoyamato.co.jp — redelivery request
- Yamato Transport — changing the pickup location (convenience store, etc.): kuronekoyamato.co.jp — change pickup location
- Sagawa Express — redelivery request (再配達のお申込み): sagawa-exp.co.jp — redelivery request
- Sagawa Express — Smart Club member service: sagawa-exp.co.jp — Smart Club