Geography 101

I finally made it to the post office today to mail Christmas gifts to Japan (OK, I'm a little late to get them there, but they are on their way!).
The first thing that I mailed was a letter to my friend. When I said something about the costing going up from last time, I was told that's because the prices to mail to Europe went up.
Hum, Japan is in Asia.
The post master told me that Japan is part of Europe and so that is why it costs more.
Hum, Japan is in Asia.
Apparently, this doesn't matter to her. Europe and Asia have the same prices, but instead of explaining that, she insisted that Japan is part of Europe.
Of all people in the work force, I guess I assumed that post office workers would know geography more than any other profession.
Japan is part of Europe, so says the post office.