Originally Posted by
RichardInSF
My experience with the post office I use most for this is the opposite -- they will sell me a shipping box/envelope and then go to great lengths (despite language issues) to help me through the process, if they don't like how I did it, they re-do it for me.
I've had the same experience. Over the years, I've used about 7 different post offices in Tokyo, and 2 or 3 in Osaka and the one at NRT T2. I've used both small local offices and the big main ones. Almost always get the same experience regardless of the staffs English level.
A couple of years ago, I was staying in Osaka, but had 12 hour stops in Tokyo on each side. After leaving Osaka, I went to Akiba and got some things to ship home and ended up at a small post office in Kanda.
Once I got my things packaged, the person who was serving me wanted a Japanese address on the send from part of the paperwork. I didn't have any of that with me as I'd been staying in Osaka and had dumped that paperwork when I left the hotel. I ended up writing down "Chuo, Tennoji, Osaka" and she looked up the hotel on her phone and addressed the packages for me.