"Musashi" <Miyamoto@Hosokawa.co.jp> wrote:

>
>"Michael Cash" <mikecash@buggerallspammers.com> wrote in message
>news:7ia3e0ldil4jfucls0pbnr6qupp855occf@4ax.com...
>> On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 16:49:22 GMT, "Musashi" <Miyamoto@Hosokawa.co.jp>
>> brought down from the Mount tablets inscribed:
>>
>> >
>> >"Tony" <poipoipoi@poipoipoi.com> wrote in message
>> >news:cbs44f$jr5$1@titan.btinternet.com...
>> >> >I have been told that without the family name it will not be delivered
>> >>
>> >> Not true....
>> >>
>> >> Sure the last name's important, considering Japanese address madness,
>but
>> >> it'll get there.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >Are you speaking from experience? Such as having received mail addressed
>> >only
>> >to Tony-San or Tony-Kun? Or have you sent mail like that?
>> >I ask from curiosity since I have never received or sent such mail.
>>
>> I don't know how it is for Japanese folks, but for gaigins it hardly
>> matters. Anyone with a gaigin name is likely to find in his mailbox
>> the mail addressed to any and every gaigin on the mailman's route,
>> regardless of address.
>>
>LOL
>
>> I remember sending a letter to a friend in the US several years ago, a
>> friend whose address I couldn't remember. So I just put his name on it
>> and a description of where he lived, thusly:
>>
>> Larry XXXXXXXXXX
>> Elm Street, across from the old yellow fever cemetery
>> Big white house with lots of Volkswagens in the yard
>> City Name, State ZIP
>>
>> He got it just fine.
>>
>
>Yes, the US postal system seems pretty lax.
>You can send a letter to;
>Mr. John Smith
>Chairman, International Chronic Masterbators Association
>Street, City, State, Zip code
>
>.....and it will get delivered

I thought John Smith had to resign his chair of the ICMA because of
his failing vision!

Postal systems are heirarchical in nature.

person
house
street
town
area
country

kind of thing.

People at each stage of the sorting process (with the help of
machines) route the correspondence to its final destination.
We, in the West, rely on the people (more than the machines) to aid
the routing process. We hoep they will make sensible decisions in case
of mistakes in spelling and missing/incorrect information and simply
not to screw it up at each stage of the process. Things you woud
expect from a service industry.
The last person in the chain is the person delivering to the house.
They know their route of houses/business and perhaps the peoples names
so they can assist if the address is not quite right.
I can think of a few reasons why a postal system would endeavour to
route a parcel to the other side of the world and then not deliver it
because the recipients name is not quite right.  But none of those
reasons are noble, sensible or considerate - qualities I'd expect from
a Japanese system. So I'm interested in finding out if the system
works this way and why it works this way.
Is it corrupt? Is it bloody-minded nitpicking? Or is it simply that my
friend is talking out of her arse?