The sorrow, hope and longing of Japan's 'Missing Post Office'

Visitors read letters addressed to the writers' deceased family members but also to friends and pets.

Sat, 22 Feb 2025

By Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Julia Mio Inuma, Hiroki Kobayashi, Yutao Chen, with photography by Hiroki Kobayashi for the Washington Post There are two post offices on Awashima, a remote Japanese island of 150 or so residents. Only one delivers mail to the living.The other hasn’t been officially operational in three decades. Instead, the “Missing Post Office” is a repository for 60,000-plus pieces of mail: letters, birthday cards and New Year’s greetings sent from all over Japan to those with no forwarding address. Lost f...

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