The “Missing Post Office” in Japan isn’t a traditional post office but a unique repository for over 60,000 pieces of undeliverable mail—letters, birthday cards, and New Year’s greetings sent from across the country to people who can no longer be reached. Located in Kanagawa Prefecture, it was established as a symbolic place where individuals can send messages to loved ones they’ve lost contact with, often due to death, disappearance, or estrangement. This initiative reflects a blend of sorrow, hope, and longing, offering a way for people to process unresolved emotions. It’s not about delivery in the conventional sense but about providing an outlet for unaddressed sentiments.
This is our Missing Post Office. You can write something you may want to address to our batchmates, a message you might have wanted to say then, now or going forward. Or you can write to your past or future self. It is a way of expressing anything one might have wanted someone to hear. It is your message in a bottle.