Japan Post's international tracking is thorough and formal. It uses the postal world's "office of exchange" vocabulary, adds a few statuses of its own for customs handling ("transported in bond", "arrived in bond"), and, unusually, publishes its own English glossary of the events it shows. This guide walks through every Japan Post status in the order an EMS or international parcel moves through them, for parcels leaving Japan and for parcels arriving there, and marks the ones that need you to act.
Short answer: An outbound Japan Post parcel runs "posting/collection", "arrival at outward office of exchange", "dispatched from outward office of exchange" (it has left Japan), then a quiet stretch until "arrival at inward office of exchange" in the destination country, followed by that country's customs and delivery scans. An inbound parcel to Japan shows "arrival at inward office of exchange", possibly "transported in bond" and "arrived in bond" while customs is handled, then "dispatched from exchange office", "arrival" at the delivery post office and "final delivery". "Retention" or a collection-point status means the post office is holding it for you.
Japan Post statuses in English
| Status | What it means | Your move |
|---|---|---|
| Posting/Collection | The item was handed in at or collected by Japan Post | None |
| Arrival at outward office of exchange | At Japan Post's international outbound facility, waiting for export processing and a flight | None |
| Dispatched from outward office of exchange | The item has left Japan for the destination country | None. Expect a quiet stretch |
| Arrival at inward office of exchange | Arrived at the destination country's international facility (or Japan's, for inbound mail) | None yet. Customs comes next |
| En route | Moving between facilities | None |
| Transported in bond / Arrived in bond | Inbound to Japan: the item is being moved to, or has reached, the exchange office that will handle its customs clearance | None, unless customs contacts you |
| Item presented to import customs | Destination customs is examining the item | Watch for a duty or documents request |
| Dispatched from exchange office | Customs is complete and the item has been sent onward | None |
| Arrival | At the post office that will deliver it | Be reachable |
| Processing at delivery post office | The local office is preparing delivery | Be reachable |
| Final delivery | Delivered | Check the detail if you do not have it |
| Retention / arrival at collection point | The post office is holding the item after a missed attempt or for pickup | Collect it or request redelivery |
| To be returned to sender / Returned to sender | Unclaimed or undeliverable, going back | Contact the shop |
Leaving Japan: the outbound sequence
Posting/Collection. The seller has handed the item to a post office or it has been collected. The tracking record exists from here.
Arrival at outward office of exchange. The item has reached Japan Post's international gateway, usually near a major airport, and is queued for export formalities and a flight.
Dispatched from outward office of exchange. The item has left Japan. Japan Post notes on its own tracking help page that "depending on the situation of the country of destination, overseas information may partly become unavailable to search, or it may take time for the latest information to be reflected", which is the polite version of: expect silence for days to weeks after this scan, and do not treat it as a lost parcel. Shop guides that track EMS from Japan note the same gap, sometimes "several days to several weeks", before the next scan appears on arrival.
Arrival at inward office of exchange. The item has landed in the destination country and been registered by that country's postal operator. From here the wording changes to the destination post's own: USPS, Royal Mail, Australia Post, Deutsche Post and the rest, all covered in our carrier tracking statuses library. Customs comes next, and the timings are in how long customs clearance takes.
Arriving in Japan: the inbound sequence
Japan Post's inbound wording is the part most guides skip.
Arrival at inward office of exchange. The parcel has reached Japan's international mail facility.
Transported in bond / Arrived in bond. Japan Post's own glossary explains these as the item being resent to, and then arriving at, the correct exchange office for customs processing. "In bond" means the item is moving under customs control before it has been cleared. It is normal and it is not a hold on your parcel specifically.
Dispatched from exchange office. Customs clearance is complete and the item has been sent on to the domestic network.
Arrival. At the post office that will deliver it, followed by delivery. If a recipient is absent, Japan Post leaves a notice and the status becomes a retention or collection-point status, with redelivery bookable online or by phone.
The statuses that need you
Item presented to import customs (in the destination country) can lead to a duty or tax request from the destination post. Pay promptly; unpaid duty is the most common reason a parcel is eventually returned, as covered in package stuck in customs.
Retention or a collection-point status means a missed delivery. Collect or rebook redelivery within the holding window or the item becomes "to be returned to sender". The general mechanics are in what "awaiting collection" means.
To be returned to sender. Japan Post's glossary flags that this status can occasionally appear in error, so if you see it on an item you are still expecting, check with the sender before assuming the worst.
How long is normal
EMS from Japan typically reaches major destinations within a week, with two or three days of that in customs and local delivery. Economy international mail can take two to four weeks, almost all of it in the scanless stretch after "dispatched from outward office of exchange". Inbound to Japan, "arrived in bond" to "dispatched from exchange office" is usually a day or two unless duty is assessed. The rule that works: judge lateness against the service the sender chose, not against the last scan date.
The merchant view
Japanese brands selling abroad, and foreign brands selling into Japan, meet the same problem from opposite sides: precise postal statuses that customers do not understand, and a silent international leg that generates "is it lost" tickets on schedule. The operational fix is translation plus timing: map Japan Post's events to plain milestones, tell the customer at the dispatch scan that the next update comes on arrival and roughly when, and raise an exception only when the arrival scan is genuinely overdue for that lane.
Pango does that across Japan Post and 100+ other carriers: one normalised milestone set, proactive messaging on the scans that predict silence, and a returns flow that starts when an item is marked for return rather than when the customer complains. What that saves in support volume is in what is WISMO.
The bottom line
Japan Post's statuses are precise once you know the vocabulary: exchange offices are the international gateways, "in bond" is customs control, "retention" is a missed delivery, and the silence after dispatch is the flight and the queue, not a lost parcel. For merchants, translate the events, message the silence, and let the system watch the lane. See the post-purchase operations platform and book a demo.
