郵便局
Meaning in Englishpost office
Animated kanji stroke order
Related sentences
Word context
What it means
What does 郵便局 mean? 郵便局 (yuubinkyoku) is a facility or branch where postal services are carried out, including accepting and sending mail and parcels, selling postage and related products, and handling PO boxes and basic logistical services.
Main meanings
- The physical building where customers go to buy stamps and send packages.
- An administrative branch of the national or private postal service that handles sorting and local distribution.
- A service counter or postal outlet within larger institutions (e.g., inside a store or government building).
- By metonymy, the local postal operation or staff responsible for mail in an area.
How to use it
Used in addresses, directions, signage and everyday requests involving mail; appropriate in both formal and casual speech when referring to the place or branch that handles mail and parcels, and often appears in business contexts (e.g., sending registered mail) as well as when asking for location or hours of operation.
Variants and close terms
- 郵便 (yuubin) — mail, post
- ポスト (posuto) — postbox (drop-off), not the office itself
- 局 (kyoku) — office/bureau (colloquial abbreviation when context is clear)
- 日本郵便 (Nippon Yūbin) — Japan Post, the national postal company
Composition
- 郵 — relates to postal dispatch and communication (conveys the idea of sending mail).
- 便 — originally means convenience or transport; in compounds it often denotes mail or postal service.
- 局 — bureau, office, or administrative branch.
Origin
The modern concept of a national postal network in Japan was established in the early Meiji period; a government postal system was launched in 1871 under reformer Maejima Hisoka, evolving into the nationwide network of post offices that later became Japan Post and its successors, with buildings and local branches spreading alongside modernization and increased communication needs.
Word class
noun (名詞)