Japanese Address Converter

A Japanese address runs from largest unit to smallest, the exact opposite of Western order. Start with the postal code (preceded by 〒), then the prefecture (Tokyo, Osaka, etc.), then the city or ward, then the chōme/banchi street block, and finally the building name and apartment number. Recipient name goes last with the 様 honorific. Paste your Western address into the EN → JP mode above and the converter reorders the fields and adds the 〒 marker for you.

The 〒 symbol is the Japanese postal mark. It signals that the digits that follow are a postal code, the same way "ZIP" works in the United States. The symbol came from the kana テ (te) for 逓信省, the old Ministry of Communications. Japanese postal codes are always seven digits in NNN-NNNN format, and they sit on the first line of any envelope or form. The converter inserts 〒 automatically when you fill in the ZIP field.

Japan Post uses a seven-digit code split as three digits, a hyphen, four digits — for example 100-0001 (central Tokyo). The first three digits identify a broad delivery area roughly tied to a prefecture; the last four narrow it to the specific city block. Most online forms accept both 1000001 and 100-0001. The converter normalizes whichever you paste into the canonical NNN-NNNN form.

Japan inherited a "general to specific" addressing tradition from China: country, prefecture, city, ward, street, building, apartment, name. Western mail uses the opposite convention — most specific first. Both orders are equally valid; the postal service sorts by whichever side of the envelope carries the matching country format. When sending mail to Japan from overseas you can keep the Western order on the front face as long as the country line reads "JAPAN".

Yes. Most MEXT scholarship and Japanese university entrance forms ask for your address in Japanese order, with the prefecture spelled either in kanji or English depending on the form. Use the EN → JP mode to generate the Japanese-order version, then copy each line into the matching field. The 47-prefecture reference table below also lists the standard romanization of every prefecture name so you know whether to enter "Tokyo", "Tōkyō", or 東京都.

Yes. Put the building or apartment detail in the "Line 2" field. The converter appends it as a separate line after the chōme/banchi street block, which matches how Japan Post expects the layout. If your apartment number is something like 3-2-1 ハイツABC 305号, type it as-is — the converter passes the line through unchanged so the kanji building name and room number both reach the destination.

Yes. The tool is free, requires no signup, has no character limits, and all conversion runs in your browser — your address is never sent to a server. Use it for envelopes, online forms, scholarship applications, customs declarations, or anywhere you need to translate between the two address orders.