Japan Post is Suspending Airmail and EMS to the United States Due to COVID-19

Earlier this month, Japan had suspended the delivery of international mail to 153 countries, which didn’t include the US. The Japan Post Service shared a notice concerning the temporary suspension of airmail and EMS addressed to the United States.

The Japan Post announced that it will suspend EMS and airmail addressed to the United States, starting April 24, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. there will also be major delays of any international mail addressed to the United States.

The Japan Post cooperated with airlines and the United States Postal Service in an effort to promptly ship out as much as possible. However, due to the reduction and suspension of flights, it could no longer keep up with some of the shipments addressed to the United States.

The following will be temporarily suspended:

• EMS
• Parcel via airmail (SAL already suspended)
• Ordinary mail (Small packages, printed material) via airmail

The following will still be accepted by Japan Post:

• Parcel via surface mail
• Ordinary mail (letters, postcards, etc) via airmail and surface mail
• Ordinary mail (Small packages, printed material) via surface mail

Again, anything recently sent out through the now-suspended shipment methods will still go out sequentially. However, expect delays of up to four months. For this reason, the Japan Post recommends those who wish to retrieve any items to contact the post office for more details. So those who recently pre-ordered games, figures, soundtracks, and such from Japan might need to wait a few months longer.