US Military Mail Information for Japan-Based Families

April 30, 2015 · by Kerry Raftis · in Uncategorized

Keyshots.com is located in Tokyo Japan

We offer our services on many Military Bases and venues in the Kanto Area as a Japanese Contracting Service.

Keyshots.com is a Japanese Company which means we must use Japanese third party resources to produce and deliver our Services and Products to the US Military Community stationed here in Japan.

Examples of the kinds of services we use are:

• Credit Card Processing for Military Events – we use a Japanese Vendor to process all credit card payments in JPY ¥ – if your Credit Card is issued in the US – your Bank will automatically flip your transaction into USD for you once it’s processed.

• Printing & distribution of Event & School Package Orders – All Print Packages ordered at Military Events & Military Schools in Japan are Processed and printed locally in our Tokyo lab. Once Packages are received in our Tokyo office they are repackaged and labelled by our local team.

1. Military Mail via Japan Post

Japan Post & Military Mail Procedure

Once your Event or School Photo Package is ready for shipping – our staff must take your package to the Japanese Post Office (Japan Post). Fees for shipping are at local Japan Postal rates – your Event or School Package fee includes a single shipping coupon for local shipping.

Once delivered to Japan Post, your package is sent to your Main Military Post Office Dispatch Centre (usually the distribution Post Office is Yokosuka). At this point your package then enters the Military Mail System and is distributed to your regional Military address.

If your Address falls into ANY of the following options we are able to send your package to the Japanese Version of your Address which will mean Japan Post can deliver directly to the on-base Military Post Office reducing your shipping turnaround time substantially – turnaround times usually range from 1 ~ 7 days for these address:

Yokosuka Navy Base

PSC 473 | 96349

becomes:

Tomari-cho PSC 473 Box 0000 (your box number)

Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa-ken 238-0001

Ikego Housing Compound

PSC 474 | 96351

becomes:

Ikego Hills Box 0000 (your box number)

Ikego 1-chome, Zushi City

Kanagawa-ken 249-0003

Navy Hospital Yokosuka

PSC 475 | 96350

becomes:

Customer Name

US Naval Hospital Yokosuka

Box 0000 (your box number)

1-2 Honcho, 1-chome

Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa-ken 238-0041

The Yokosuka Navy Hospital uses a different postal system and all mail shipped to this address is delivered to the Hospital Post Office Facility.

Average turnaround times for shipping from our Japan (Tokyo) Studio to the Yokosuka Navy Hospital Military Addressed Mail is anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks.

Tracking is not available.

Once your package is shipped – we are no longer able to provide updates on turnaround times.

MISSING OR DELAYED MAIL

PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK WITH THE NAVY HOSPITAL POST OFFICE TO HAVE THEM SEARCH FOR YOUR MAIL.

DSN: 243-5536

COMM: 046-816-5536

Camp Zama Army Base

PSC 704 Unit 45006 | 96338 or 96343

becomes:

PSC 704 Box 0000 (your box number)

Camp Zama, Zama-shi

Kanagawa-ken 252-0000

Atsugi Navy Air Base

PSC 477 | 96306

becomes:

PSC 477 Box 0000 (your box number) Atsugi Base,

Oogami Fukaya, Ayase-shi

Kanagawa-ken 252-1103

Yokota Air Base

PSC 78 | 96326

becomes:

PSC 78 Box 0000 (your box number)

Yokota AB, Fussa-shi

Tokyo 197-0001

Please note that Japan Post is not able to deliver mail directly to your actual house or apartment if it is located on any military base if no-one is home – Japan Post will simply send your package back to our office as undeliverable – this means our Company must ship your package again which incurs additional fees – as a result – Keyshots will NOT deliver packages to any household address located on a Military Base.

We will only ship to a PSC address as your ON-BASE Post-Office will hold mail for you to collect.

If you provide us with an on-base household shipping address when placing your order – your order will be delayed – our Team will contact you by email or text to request your PSC Address – your order will be held at our office until we hear back from you – please be sure to supply us with your correct address to avoid delays.

2. Delivery Turnaround

Delivery times to all the various Military Addresses varies – for example if you are stationed on a ship that is on deployment – your package will take longer to be delivered than a package that is being delivered to an on-base mail box.

Average turnaround times for shipping from our Japan Studio to a Japan (AP) Military Mail Address is anywhere from 5 days to 5 weeks.

Average shipping times though are 9 ~ 15 days for locally converted mail addresses.

Tracking is not available for this shipping service.

3. Address Guidelines - please pay attention & use the correct formatting for your address.

There are very strict guidelines on how you should address your Package when using our system. Our Orders Department often have many packages returned to our office as undeliverable due to incorrect or incomplete addresses being used.

4. Shipping & Re-delivery Fees

Shipping is not free – nor is the labour it takes to prepare your package for the second time if you did not provide the correct information to our team the first time.

Our Studio charges a ¥1000 redelivery fee for all packages that are returned to our office to be repackaged, and shipped for the second time with payments being made by credit card.

5. Local vs. International Shipping

It’s important to note that shipping from Japan Post to Military Postal Addresses located in Japan (AP) are charged at local Japanese Shipping rates.

IF YOU LEAVE JAPAN – your package must be sent as International Mail – simply leaving a forwarding US address with the Military Post Office in Japan will not be sufficient as your package will require additional postage fees and paperwork for it to enter the US Postal System – in all cases your package will be returned to our Tokyo Office as undeliverable and you will be asked to pay a reprocessing fee.

6. Shipping Upgrade Service with Tracking for International Mail

Keyshots.com can provide International Shipping with Tracking as an upgrade option, this service is available for a fee of $8USD and must be requested by email or text.

Please contact our office if you wish to use this service.

This service is NOT available for shipping to addresses located inside Japan.

7. Important Notice

Keyshots.com actively displays signage at all events that we photograph for Guests to read before using our service – by using our service you are agreeing to our terms and conditions.

When placing orders from our Online Schools or Events Photography Websites – we also ask in your Order Confirmation email that you double check your address is Correct, Valid & Complete. Also when using a Military Address that you are Authorized to receive mail through the Military Box number provided.

If your address changes at any point – YOU MUST INFORM US IMMEDIATELY – if your package has not been shipped – we can redirect your package – if you do not let us know that you have moved and your package is shipped and is returned as undeliverable – you will be charged a Re-processing fee to repackage and reship your order.

8. Lost or late mail

If your package does not arrive within 6 weeks from the date of your order please contact our office and our staff will certainly be able to assist you with finding out where your package may be – if it cannot be located and it is deemed that you have supplied us with a correct, valid address and you are approved to receive mail at your supplied address – we can certainly replace it.

Orders remain open for inquiries for 60 days – if you do not inform us of any delays before this point – your order will be archived and closed. For any enquiries or requests made after 60 days of your Event or Order Date – a ¥1500 fee will apply to reopen your order in all cases.

It is your responsibility to inform our office of any issues that you may have with your order in a timely manner.