Yokohama Stamps

Yokohama stamps

Just a selection from the 150th stamps for the opening of Yokohama, in celebration of several days’ work in Yokohama. It was nice to get out of the Tokyo grind. I have few chances to go, but I always enjoy my visits to Yokohama. The only disappointing thing on the most recent job was not being able eat lunch in Chinatown!

Below is some relevant text from the infomapjapan.com website:

In 1859, Yokohama opened its port to Commodore Perry and his "Black Ships", ending Japan's national isolation policy and making the city the base for foreign trade in Japan. This year marks the 150th anniversary of this event and to commemorate this momentous occasion, the city of Yokohama is sponsoring "EXPO Y150". This special exposition will focus on the history and attractions of the city and will be based on Yokohama's three symbols - the sea, city and nature.

日本語hints:
the grind = the usual pattern. To “get out of the grind” is to break the pattern, to do something (and therefore interesting)

relevant = related, connected 関係がある
isolation policy = 鎖国
momemtous = very important, historic

Martha Washington 1 1/2

So far all the American Presidents have been men. And their wives are called First Ladies. Martha Washington was the wife of the first US President, George Washington, and is thus known as the first First Lady.

I first noticed this stamp because of the unusual denomination, 1 1/2 cents. Much later, I went to Wikipedia for some quick research about her and was quite surprised. She married at age 18 to a man two decades her senior (38). He was well-off and left her well-to-do when he passed away less than a decade later.

Martha and George married when both were 27. They had no children together but raised the two children from Martha's first marriage, although both of them died well before their parents. She was initially opposed to George becoming President and refused to attend the Inauguration ceremonies.

She inherited many slaves from her first husband. George Washington was also a slave owner, though he later decided that slavery was repugnant and freed all his slaves shortly before his death.

Also from Wikipedia:
In 1902 Martha Washington became the first American woman to be commemorated by a U.S. postage stamp. It was an 8 cent stamp. In 1923, a second stamp was issued in her honor, a 4 cent. The third Martha Washington stamp, of 1½¢ denomination, was issued in 1938.

日本語 hints
decade = ten years
well-off and well-to do: both phrases mean wealthy, having much money, being rich
pass away = a formal way to say "die"
Inauguration = 大統領の就任式
slave = 奴隷
repugnant = disgusting, とても嫌な

Japanese stamp museum

I have lived in Tokyo for 15 years and have used the circular / loop line around the city, the Yamanote line, regularly throughout that time. So I have seen the stamp museum (切手博物館) near Mejiro Station endless times from the train and I have wondered about it for quite a while.

There seem to be museums everywhere for everything in Tokyo. One of my favorites is the parasite museum, near Meguro Station, about 20 minutes away on the same Yamanote line. Nothing like witnessing a six-meter long tapeworm together with your date!

Anyway, I finally made it to the stamp museum for the first time. It was a short visit, but well worth it. The staff were all friendly and treated me like a normal visitor. My only complaint was the high cost to photocopy a page -but I must admit it was wonderful to be surrounded by so many stamp-related materials. Otherwise, I was extremely pleased with my visit in every way. Perhaps the most interesting thing to me was the speed with which workers were filing stamps away in the albums of the massive collection.

I look forward to my next visit and hope I will have more time to talk with the friendly staff and learn more about stamp collecting in Japan.

日本語hints:

parasite - 寄生虫 we can talk about one animal living off another - or about older children who stay at home too long, surviving off their parents

tapeworm -　サナダムシ

complaint - 文句 note that this differs from "claim", which is highly overused in Japan

massive - 巨大、大量の

Japanese oldies

Here is a selection of older Japanese stamps I received recently. Quite a few of them are attractive, but two in particular make a nice pair.

Start with the red stamp which is the third stamp in the second row / middle row. It shows an airplane (a bomber, I first imagined) flying over a pagoda – perhaps symbolic of new technology emerging from traditional culture?

Then look at the first stamp in the third row / bottom row. It is another airplane (another bomber?), but this one is passing in front of a giant Buddha statue – perhaps capturing the post-War mood in Japan?

Another interesting point for me was the denomination – several of the stamps were marked in 銭 or sen, much older in use (and smaller in value) than the currently-used 円 or ￥ , yen. I don’t see the Japanese kanji character for 銭 very often these days. I used to see it every night when I went to the 銭湯 or public bath, but those are closing down all over Japan.

Please note that I used the phrase “Japanese kanji character” in this case. Almost all Japanese people will call these “Chinese characters” because the Japanese system of writing was imported from China. In a Japanese cultural context, that makes sense.

But in an English-speaking context, that is very confusing. The characters used for writing in China – 汉字 or hanzi in Chinese – are “Chinese characters” to an English speaker. Sometimes they are written the same as Japanese characters, sometimes not. There are even more differences now than in the past due to the simplification of characters on the mainland.

The Japanese character 銭 is now written as 钱 on the mainland, and it is pronounced “qian” with a rising tone. It is seen and heard commonly in the very useful Chinese phrase “多少钱?”. This is read “duo shao qian” and is used for asking how much something costs.

日本語 hints
- row = 列、横列、行列 (horizontal, or across)
- column = 列、縦列 (vertical, or up and down)
- bomber = an airplane which carries and drops bombs (爆撃機)
- pagoda = 塔 The word “pagoda” is actually a loan word from Portugeuse into English.
- symbolic = 象徴
- simplification = making things easier or simpler; 簡単化 By the way, “simplified characters” can be called 簡体字\
- mainland (China) = 大陸 , used to refer to China separate from Taiwan (Taiwan does not use simplified characters)