Japanese addressing system - part 2 - Postal symbol (〒)

〒 (郵便マーク Yūbin māku^?) is the service mark of Japan Post, the postal operator in Japan.

It is also used as a Japanese postal code mark. The mark is stylized katakana syllable te (テ), from the word teishin (逓信 communications). The mark dates from the pre-World War II era, when literacy was less complete, the katakana symbol being more easily recognized than a kanji.

To indicate a postal code, the mark is written first, and the postal code is written after. For example, one area of Meguro, Tokyo, would have 〒153-0061 written on any mail, in order to direct mail to that location.