Three Pokémon species are ready to send your mail on its way in this city south of Tokyo.
In Japan, there’s no home mail pick-up. The post office makes daily deliveries to your door, but if there’s something you want to send, you’re either going to have to walk to the post office or go looking for a public mailbox to drop your letter into.
It’s sort of a hassle, but the upside is that if you live in the city of Yokohama, about half an hour south of downtown Tokyo, you can now drop your letters into Pokémon mail boxes!
Yokohama has some long-running Pokémon connections. It’s where the first real-world Pokémon Center superstore was opened, where the first Pokéfuta Pokémon manhole cover was installed, and, most adorably, where the annual Pikachu Outbreak takes place. But while the packs of Outbreak Pikachus only stick around for a week or so, the Pikachu mailbox is here year-round, and Pikachu isn’t the only Pocket Monster represented either, as there are a total of three Pokémon mailboxes, each featuring a different species.
Let’s start with the Pikachu one, though. If you’re headed there to mail a letter, or just to ooh and aah over how cute it is, the closest rail stop is Bashamichi Station, on the Minato Mirai subway line.
▼ You might remember Bashamichi Station from that time when it had a giant Gundam head inside of it.
There’s only one exit gate for the station, but since it’s underground there are multiple ways to get back up to the surface. If you’re here for Pikachu, the one you want to take is Exit A1, a somewhat foreboding stairwell.
Don’t worry, though, because once you get to the top, you’ll spot some very familiar-looking tails.
Exit A1 brings you out to the sidewalk just behind the Pikachu mailbox, which lets you see that not only are there two Pikachus, but one is a male, and the other a female.
▼ You can tell a female Pikachu by the heart-shaped clef in its tail.
And as you might have noticed, right next to the mailbox with the Pikachus is another one with Eevee!
Pokémon are apparently very classy when it comes to written correspondence. Look closely, and you’ll see that both Pikachu and Eevee are mailing envelopes held shut by a wax seal with a Poké Ball motif.
The box itself bears the characteristic Poké Ball color scheme too.
Ah, but you were promised three Pokémon mailboxes, right? For the final one, we’ll have to walk over to the Yokohama Sakuragi Post Office. Thankfully that’s just two blocks away, across the inlet of the Okagawa River that runs next to Yokohama’s new city hall building.
▼ That’s the post office up ahead, with the red sign right above its door.
Thankfully, the third Pokémon mailbox is installed outside the post office, so you can see it any time of day or night, just like the Pikachu and Eevee ones. So who’s that Pokémon on the third box?
It’s…
…Piplup!
Yokohama’s Pokémon mailboxes were installed last summer (when these photos were taken), coinciding with a whole slew of promotions related to the Gen-IV starter. As a Water-type, he’s also got some affinity with port town Yokohama, and he looked quit at home sitting there and smiling, with the river literally just a stone’s throw away.
Cute as Piplup is, though, I’ve got to admit to always feeling a little underwhelmed about the character as a whole. I mean, other Pokémon look every bit the part of their role as fantasy-world wildlife, and it’s easy to imagine them having such amazing powers as being able to shoot bolts of electricity or levitate. Piplup, though, just looks like a penguin. A very cute penguin, sure, but still a penguin.
But as if on cue, at the exact moment I was thinking that, a women rode up on a bicycle, with her daughter on the seat behind her. Once the kid was down from the bike she reached into her backpack, pulled out a Piplup plushie, and posed for a picture in front of the mailbox, with a big smile on her face. It was clear that they’d come specifically to see the mailbox, proving that there definitely are passionate Piplup fans out there.
Initially, Yokohama’s Pokémon mailboxes were supposed to be in service for one year only. Based on the popular response, though, that period has been extended all the way until June of 2026, so they’ll still be here and waiting when Japan finally reopens to unrestricted international tourism next month.
Location information
● Pikachu and Eevee mailboxes
Bashamichi Station (Exit 1A) / 馬車道駅（１A出口）
Address: Kanagawa-ken, Yokohama-shi, Chuo-ku, Honcho 5-49
神奈川県横浜市中区本町５丁目４９
● Piplup mailbox
Yokohama Sakuragi Post Office / 横浜桜木郵便局
Address: Kanagawa-ken, Yokohama-shi, Chuo-ku, Sakuragicho 1-1
神奈川県横浜市中区桜木町１丁目１
Photos ©SoraNews24
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