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