One person in Japan. Letters every month, parcels when you want them.
Everything is posted from Japan and every price below is the total — shipping included, nothing added at the end.
First Letter
$12.00 once
Not a subscription. No card kept on file, you are not charged again.
- · Choose any penpal who has room
- · One handwritten letter, written for you
- · Posted from Japan, postage included
- · Continue with the same person afterwards if you want to
- · Pay by card — no PayPal account needed
Penpal Membership
$19.00 / month
or $193.80 for a year ($16.15/mo)
- · The same penpal writes to you every month
- · Two to three A5 pages, entirely by hand
- · Written for you specifically — not a newsletter
- · Real stamps and a postmark from Japan
- · Reply whenever you want — always optional
- · Cancel anytime, in two clicks
- · Billed through PayPal — this one needs a PayPal account
Membership + Japan Packs
$19.00 / month
+ $59.00 per parcel, only in the months you ask
- · Everything in Penpal Membership
- · Ask for a Japan Pack any month you like
- · Your penpal picks what goes in it — for you, not a crowd
- · Sweets, stationery, small finds from their neighborhood
- · The letter tells you why they chose each thing
- · Shipping from Japan included, customs form handled by us
- · Pay by card — a Japan Pack needs no PayPal account
How Japan Packs work
$59.00 per parcel
A Japan Pack is not a monthly box on autopilot. Any month you feel like it, you ask your penpal for one from your account — and they choose what goes in it based on what you have actually told them. If you mentioned you like cats, that is the kind of thing that turns up. Order one month, skip the next five; nothing repeats unless you ask again. Shipping from Japan is included in the price.
A Japan Pack contains real goods, so it travels as a separate small parcel with a customs declaration we complete for you — never inside your letter.
Do I have to write back?
You never have to reply. But if you do, your next letter continues the story. Plenty of people never reply and just enjoy reading. But if you do write back, the same person reads it before they start your next letter — so month six reads nothing like month one.
Why pay at all?
You can find a pen pal for free on Slowly, Postcrossing, InterPals or Japan Post's own Pen Friend Club — and if that suits you, use them. They match volunteers who write when they feel like it, so what you get is a lottery. What you're paying for here is the opposite: you pick one person, writing to you is their paid work, and if a letter doesn't go out we refund that month. Reliability is the product.
Your first letter will usually be mailed from Japan within 7 days.
The price you see is the price you pay. Postage is already included. We don't add a shipping line at the end of checkout.
How you pay. One-off purchases — a First Letter or a Japan Pack — can be paid with a debit or credit card, with no PayPal account. Monthly and yearly memberships are billed through PayPal, which requires a PayPal account for the recurring payment.
Monthly memberships renew automatically each month until you cancel, and yearly ones renew automatically once a year. You can cancel in two clicks from your account at any time. If you paid for a year and stop partway, we refund the months we haven't posted yet — those months are charged at the standard monthly rate, so the yearly discount applies to the months you actually keep.
International standard mail is generally not tracked. Delivery times vary by country and we can't guarantee an arrival date. See our Refund & Delivery Policy.
- Verified adult penpals
- Handwritten in Japan
- Private address routing
- International postage included
- Cancel anytime