How can you send a parcel to Japan with their complicated post system?

Sending a parcel from Germany to Japan is a bit challenging since both countries have quite a lot of bureaucracy in place.

1. nowadays you can send a suitcase of no more than 10 kg with packaging included for 61.99€ from Germany to Japan. Of course, first you need to contact the hotel that you’re going to be staying in Japan to see if that would be OK

2. The next step is to get the address of the hotel. DHL Asks you to write the address in English letters so you need to translate the Japanese address to English letters and this is not trivial. Especially because of the house numbering system (Wikipedia explains it here). But as a summary, you have the postal code and immediately afterwards 3 numbers separated by hyphens and these 3 numbers are all part of the house number because the first indicates district, the second indicates block of buildings and the third one the exact place within this block…

3. Then you need to go to DHL, enter the address, the day in which you will arrive, your name and a lot of details on what’s in the package because of customs. DHL asks you to actually weigh each single item and to set a price for each item. Moreover, in total the items shouldn’t be more than 60€ worth of money for everything to arrive safely and without customs issues in Japan.

See these pictures as examples of how detailed everything needs to be. Even if it’s just for sending some autumn clothes for 8 weeks in Japan and Korea ;)