We recently got an order from Japan for our Shopify website. The buyer address is almost entirely in Japanese language text with Japanese characters. When I try to create a shipping label on Shopify I get an error message indicating the address contains “unsupported characters”. How can I resolve this? Does customer in Japan need to provide an address in English language?
Topic summary
Core Issue:
Merchants receive orders from Japan (and other countries) with addresses in non-Latin characters (Japanese, Chinese, Cyrillic). Shopify’s integrated shipping carriers reject these characters when creating labels, displaying an “unsupported characters” error.
Root Cause:
This is a carrier API limitation, not a Shopify platform issue. The integrated carriers don’t support non-Latin character sets in their label generation systems.
Official Workaround:
- Contact customers to request English/romanized versions of their addresses
- Optionally print the original address separately and attach it to the package alongside the English label
- Shopify has forwarded this as feedback to developers but cannot directly fix carrier limitations
Third-Party Solutions:
Several apps have been suggested:
- LatinLock: Restricts checkout fields to Latin/Roman characters only, preventing non-Latin input (customizable)
- Glovokai/Address Logic: Automatically transliterates foreign addresses and names into Latin characters directly on orders
- These apps can work alongside address validation tools like Address Guard
Status: The discussion remains open with no native Shopify solution, but app-based workarounds are available.
Hi, @timomills !
Thanks for reaching out about this.
If you’re receiving the error ‘unsupported characters’ message when trying to create your shipping label, this is because of a limitation of the carriers that we integrate with. Carrier label APIs often do not support character sets such as Japanese, Chinese, and Cyrillic, which can result in this error. Regrettably, Shopify has no control over this.
To work around this issue, you can contact the customer and request an English spelling of their address. If they wish to include the original address on the parcel, you can copy the original name and address to a program such as Word Doc or Notepad, print it separately, and tape it to the package next to the translated shipping label. This will ensure that the original address is still visible on the package while also allowing for the creation of a shipping label that is recognized by the carrier’s system.
Speaking of Shipping, you may find our guide on Shipping Strategies: How To Offer Free, Flat Rate, and More at this link here helpful for your store!
Hi @Maz we are running in the same issue, does Shopify offer any other solution? is there any app that can be used for this? Thank you in advance!
Hey. @Hana9 !
Thanks for subscribing to this thread.
This is a limitation of the carriers that we integrate with and not something Shopify can fix as the issue lies on the carriers side with their API.
For now, the only workaround is the one mentioned above. Instead, I have gone ahead and sent this as feedback with our developers for you, and maybe we will see this fixed in the future, so I appreciate your feedback on this.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hey guys,
For those still looking for a simple solution to this, take a look at the app in the following link. It’s a simple script that makes it so that only latin/roman characters are allowed in the shipping fields at checkout.
It’s also customizable where non-latin characters of the merchant’s choosing can be allowed through.
https://apps.shopify.com/latinlock
YouTube demo:
Hi there, I recently released an app that solves this. It’s really easy to set up and test against any foreign character set, and translate addresses directly to the order.
Check it here: https://apps.shopify.com/address-logic-1
Hi there!
I recently released an app for solving this for a client, and it has already helped others with the same issue!
https://apps.shopify.com/glovokai
Hope this helps!
Hi,
Does your app work with people’s names as well as address’?
Yes, it also transliterates names unless you tell it not to touch those!
That’s great news!
We currently use address guard that prevents customers from writing the
wrong address. Can you tell me if your app does this too?
We are looking for something that will fix language not being english as
week as name being in another language. But still need to ensure the
address is correct regardless of language
Yes, well we have another app, Checkout Logic which can do this kind of validation too, but as a combination with Glovokai it wouldn’t make sense, unless you only set up address validation on the stuff like max characters of the address field, etc.
You can use the support chat in each app to ask any further questions you may have regarding setup! I’m happy to assist 
@gfaldn i confused the Address Guard app with another app that just blocks certain characters from being used. So I don’t think there is any issue using that app in combination with Glovokai! Seems like a solid setup