American music stamps set

Here is a great set of stamps from about 15 years back, celebrating the contributions of African-American musicians to American culture. I wouldn't mind enlarging a couple of these (Billie comes to mind) to hang on the wall as pictures. Some years back I taught a course using Billie Holiday's lyrics for English study. It was more difficult than I expected but was a good experience overall.

日本語 hints:
enlarge = to make larger, 拡大する the opposite is reduce, to make smaller. Your photocopy machine might have buttons like this

lyrics = the words to a song, 歌詞

Dick Bruna stamps

I keep finding more and more of these Dick Bruna stamps (only from Japan so far). I have never been a big Dick Bruna fan, but as my daughter went through the mandatory Miffy phase I had to get more comfortable with his style. One picture shows those I have collected so far; the other shows three stamps with unusual shapes.

Many thanks to The Venerable Chofu Ladies, from whom several of these stamps were received.

日本語 hints:
have never been a big xxx fan - そんなに好きではありません
mandatory - not optional, not a choice, 義務的な、強制的な (?)
go through a phase

Red bird from China

Here is another Chinese stamp I like - sorry the picture is blurry. I am still getting used to a new camera.

There is a type of art in China which uses scissors to cut exquisite pieces of art with minute detail. Almost 20 years ago, my then-tai ji quan teacher brought back some of these works for us in her classes. I have always treasured mine, so I was pleased to find a stamp showing the same type of artwork.

日本語 hints:
blurry = out of focus, ぼやけた (?)
exquisite = この上なくすぐれた、優雅な、等

Notice that "treasure" is used as a verb here - 大事にする、重んじる

bugs in Japan

These are part of a larger series - only two come to mind at the moment. I am not a big bug guy, but my daughter loves bug stamps, so I am looking for more. I will expand this set as I can. Maybe the praying mantis is a bug???? See the first post. Meanwhile, it is a great time for bugs in Japan, with locusts/ cicadas buzzing about night and day, and spiders spinning their webs at night from our laundry poles to the neighbor's house.

日本語 hints
bug = 昆虫　 and more. Strictly speaking, an INSECT has 6 legs. BUGS might have 4,6, 8, even 100 legs.
praying mantis =　蟷螂
locust and cicada = 蝉 in easy English, though my Nebraska friend assures me that the locust and the cicada are distinct.

Japanese Flower Stamps (1)

This will probably be a long series of posts since there are so many postage stamps with flowers on them in Japan. I chose these two because they were among a large assortment of stamps I got recently from employees at company S. I have been involved with the company as an English teacher for close to 15 years but have not been active lately. I was visiting last week as a substitute teacher. On a lark, I emailed in the afternoon and told them about my collecting stamps with my daughter and asked for a few used stamps. That very evening, I was given several dozen stamps, to my surprise and delight.

日本語 hints
substitute teacher = 代理先生
on a lark = an idiom meaning by chance, without much planning, without expecting much. Similar to "on a whim".
dozen = 12

Chinese stamps

I love this pair of stamps from 1980 in China. The Cultural Revolution had ended a few years before and stamps like these could be seen. They also give a hint about the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, as they are in denominations of 4分 and 8 分, but recently almost nothing is priced so cheaply; everything is in 元. There might be a total of 4 stamps in the set - I am still searching.

日本語 hints
Cultural Revolution = 文化大革命
denomination =

martial arts stamps

Here are four martial arts- related stamps from my collection. I chose these for my first post because my real passion is practicing martial arts. One is a Japanese stamp showing a woman with a naginata - one of the Japanese budo which I practice. Another is from Hong Kong and shows an older man practicing tai ji quan. The other two show praying mantis - and I have some interest in tang lang quan (螳螂拳). I have never seen a stamp with someone practicing the praying mantis style of fighting!