Sending Mail in Japan

I sent a mail for the first time in Japan yesterday, Thursday, July 23. Yes, I mean an actual letter, the old fashion way. Because Japanese are strict with their information, no professor's phone number or email are provided on the university website. The Japanese language instructor who studies Native Taiwanese literature (Uozumi) found this Taiwanese scholar in Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo whose research interest is similar to my or the Taiwan part of my research (at this point, probably the main part).

Because I do not have her email address, my advisor here (Yazawa) suggested that I write a letter. Although Yazawa-sensei suggests that a letter in English will probably be fine, I thought I should write it in Chinese. I had not written any letter in Chinese since early high school, and have never written a professional or academic letter before. I spend a total of two hours on writing the letter.I asked another participant from China to proofread for me, and I also asked my godfather/uncle/daddy (all the same person) to proofread for me. I was short on time, and was unable to incorporate both comments. I ended up printing out my daddy's version. It sounded very sophisticated.

Anyhow, I then asked my speech teacher here (Nohata) on how to write information on a Japanese mail envelope. After learning how, I went to the Institute's store, bought an envelope and stamp. I wrote the cover and asked the store person to check to see if everything looked fine. I had one mistake- the "zip-code" was in the wrong place.

It was a good experience. Now I know how to mail a letter in Japan. The price differs depending on where you send it, the size of the envelope, and of course the weight.