Changes in Japanese Mailbox (4/9)

Q & A: How many different types of mailboxes are there?

Excluding special mailboxes such as commemorative mailboxes, there are currently nine types of mailboxes in use throughout Japan and they number about 163,000. Most of these types were set in place between about 1945 and the early 1970s.

Round Postal
Mailing Box
Number 1 Postal Mailing
Box Number 6 Postal Mailing
Box Number 7
The Second World
War ended in 1945.
From 1948, when
materials could
once again beprocured
fairly easily, this
new iron mailbox
was adopted. With an increase in
the number of articles
being posted, the mail
collector could not
always carry all the
mail in one load.
Therefore, a dual-purpose
mailbox came into
service in 1959
incorporating a storage
box for some of the
mailarticles to be
delivered. To make sorting of
mail more efficient
and to shorten the
time required
for delivery, a mailbox
with two letter drops
was used on a trial
basis in 1981. The
two letter drops
enabled mail articles
to be inserted into
separate containers
according to the
destination.
This type of mailbox
was adopted the
following year
and various improvements
have been made since
that time.

Round Postal Mailing Box Number 1	Postal Mailing Box Number 6	Postal Mailing Box Number 7

The Second World War ended in 1945. From 1948, when materials could once again beprocured fairly easily, this new iron mailbox was adopted.	With an increase in the number of articles being posted, the mail collector could not always carry all the mail in one load. Therefore, a dual-purpose mailbox came into service in 1959 incorporating a storage box for some of the mailarticles to be delivered.	To make sorting of mail more efficient and to shorten the time required for delivery, a mailbox with two letter drops was used on a trial basis in 1981. The two letter drops enabled mail articles to be inserted into separate containers according to the destination. This type of mailbox was adopted the following year and various improvements have been made since that time.