trading stamps

Last week I had an unexpected knock on the door.

Stamps from China! Praise to the mail carrier!

One of my long-term goals is to set up a network of stamp trading partners from various countries. Each of us has many duplicate stamps from the countries where we live. Why not swap those duplicates with each other?

I have lots of extras from Japan but almost no stamps from Country A. Someone living in Country A has lots of extras from their country, but few Japanese stamps. So it is perfect.

It helps to have a go-between, someone to act as intermediary. I am willing to take the risk of sending the first batch of stamps (what if the other person keeps the stamps but doesn’t send any back in return? Or what if they send stamps in poor condition?).

That is especially helpful when working across languages. I have had one very successful trade with an American. Gee, we both use English, no problem. And we had a good intermediary, someone who knew us both and introduced us.

Mr. H does not use English, but my Chinese is good enough at intermediate level (OK OK low intermediate…). Still, it was quite reassuring to have an introduction from someone who knows us both well and who is quite good in both languages.

I sent him a selection from Japan and other countries and he was quite satisfied. His selection for me was all Chinese stamps, just fine by me. Experienced collectors of Chiense postage stamps would not find much excitement in those Mr. H sent me, but I am just beginning to build my collection of Chinese stamps, so I was quite thrilled.

Likewise, the stamps which I sent him were not especially valuable or hard to find…for a person living in Japan. I think it is not so easy for him to get these stamps while living in his country.

I should mention a bit more about our intermediary, Mr. Wu, who was my tai ji quan instructor while I lived in China. Early every morning, we met and taught each other (English for him, tai ji quan for me). How could I have imagined at that time that I would, 10 years later, return to my childhood hobby and begin collecting postage stamps again?

日本語 hints:
unexpected = something unplanned, 思いがけない

duplicate = an extra copy (NOTE: this can be an adjective, noun, or verb)

swap = trade

go-between , intermediary = …の間の仲介

intermediate = 中級

reassuring = 安心させる

experienced = 経験を積んだ

thrilled = very happy about something. This is one of many –ED / _ING adjectives I have included. thrilled – thrilling; reassured – reassuring; sastisfied – satisfying, etc.

taijiquan = 太極拳, sometimes called “tai chi” in English

stamp art (2)

Here are a couple more pictures from the cut stamp art // kirie (切り絵) exhibition near my home. It is hard to see in the pictures from my camera, but the level of detail in the actual works is amazing.

Kirie can be made from any kind of paper – you cut strips of paper and arrange them in colorful patterns. When looked at from afar, they are quite beautiful. To me, they become even more beautiful when studied up-close. Then you can see how strips of individual stamps were placed together to make larger sections of color.


But I don’t think that kirie made from used postage stamps are very common. I hope to try it out with my daughter soon – they have a monthly session at the Tokyo Stamp Museum.

日本語 hints:

- exhibition = 展覧会、展示会
- from afar = from far away, from a distance
- up-close = well…up close. “close up” is frequently used (and mis-used!) in katakana English, but not “up-close”

Stamp Art

A couple months ago, I was wandering around the vendors' stalls at the Tokyo Stamp Museum when I noticed someone...it took me a while to place the face, then it hit me -- the security guard at a local community center.

I often go to martial arts practice at the community center and never got a word out of any of the security guards there. I suppose foreigners walking around with swords are not easy targets for conversation.

I must have passed by his post hundreds of times over the years, and not a word passed between us. And here he was, at the stamp museum. After a pause, I ventured a few words. Turns out he is a long-term stamp collector.

Since that time, we have exchanged words each time I visit the community center.

A couple weeks back, he tipped me off about an exhibition in the lobby: works of art made by cutting and arranging postage stamps (切り絵). I should post again later with more details, the name of the artist, and so on.

日本語hints
security guard = 警備員
martial arts = 武道、武術
tip someone off = tell them, give them information