Don't forget 節水 !!

I love this stamp, from a while back in Taiwan, encouraging people to reduce both water and electric usage. Save our natural resources!

Here in Japan, because of the threat of power blackouts from Tokyo's over-reliance on the nuclear plant which was damaged by a tsunami which followed the March 11 earthquake, everyone has become quite conscious about saving electricity.

That is great and I am happy to see so many examples in everyday life. But I think that feeling will fade soon. It is always good to conserve electricity, not just due to a temporary threat of black-out. And the same with water.

Shinjuku stamp center

it was so close all these years and I only just discovered it. I stumbled upon a small stamp shop in Nakano Broadway amid all the manga and anime and characters and such. Not much there for me, but the attendant was quite nice and drew me a map to Shinjuku Stamp Center.

Made it there within a week. Several small dealers all gathered in one space, too much to take in on my short visit. But I found the sold-by-weight Japanese commemoratives featured in the last post.....

stamps by weight

I love this idea -- buying postage stamps in bulk by weight, rather than by number. Nothing valuable in the bag, but hundreds and hundreds of commemoratives, good for trading with people from other countries. The only problem, of course, is time, the time needed to soak the stamps off the paper / envelopes.

I just finished the last 100 or so in the bag, so I'll be heading to 新宿切手センター again before long.