JapanPost: they're definitely stricter in the cities

I registered last week for an Internet banking account, and the company sent me its application form ... but I received it neither last week nor this week (even after the company resent it on Monday morning). After I called the bank earlier, they explained the reason for the non-delivery: nobody by this name at that address.

What?

Come to think of it, wanting to maintain my privacy, I haven't written my name on my mailbox. That is in some ways, just inviting identity theft. (Feeling a little paranoid with the mail not arriving, I bought a lock to keep prying hands out of the mailbox ...) But it seems that banks and especially credit card companies are wary of their application forms falling into the wrong hands, and have Japan Post on their side, willing to send back mail if they are not able to positively identify the owner of the mailbox.

It was never this way when I was living out in the countryside. Everyone in the central post office knew who I was and where I lived, and somehow mail always found its way to my house. Not to mention, sometimes I would be stopped in the street -- "you got a package, come and pick it up when you have a moment!" Those days are gone, and everyone trusts no one.

So I scrawled my name on a piece of strapping tape (a small piece, to make it rather unnoticeable) and slapped it on the mailbox. Hope that this time the mailman will see fit to deliver the bank account materials!