Representations of the iconic vintage cylindrical Japanese postbox (pillarbox). Since Japan stopped producing cylindrical postboxes in 1970 and has been replacing them with rectangular ones, the older cylindrical design has gained cultural and sentimental value, and a few are being preserved.

The most commonly shown design is the Postal submissions box No. 1 (round) 「郵便差出箱1号（丸型）」, dating from 1949. [Not to be confused with the 1970 submissions box No. 1 (rectangular) 「郵便差出箱1号（角型）」.]
The letter slot is cut into a circular panel on the upper section of the postbox, and is shielded by a curved eave. Collection times are posted on the collection plate, to one side of the circular panel. A square access hatch sits on the lower section of the postbox, below the letter slot. Unlike later, rectangular designs in which mail gets deposited directly into a mailbag that can be removed via a large door, the cylindrical design required loose mail items to be collected by hand through its relatively smaller hatch. This inefficiency led to it being phased out.

This tag is [b]not[/b] intended for all cylindrical postboxes. Some artistic liberty is allowed, such as variation in size and proportion, or missing/misplaced collection plate or access hatch, but the general design elements must be there. (e.g. post #1109518, despite the [[Japanese postal mark]] and small access hatch, more closely resembles a UK design in terms of shape and letter slot placement.)

h4. Related tags
* [[postbox (outgoing mail)]]
* [[mailbox (incoming mail)]]
* [[Japanese postal mark]]

h4. External links
* "Postal Museum Japan":https://www.postalmuseum.jp/column/transition/post_10.html ← shows all Japanese postbox designs
* "Japanese Wikipedia":https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%B8%E5%9E%8B%E3%83%9D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88
丸型ポスト 丸ポスト