leaving Japan

Less than two weeks left in Japan, and every day seems to get shorter (and the list of things to do gets longer!).

We sent 115 boxes by surface mail out of Yokohama but should have sent more. We are now sending the few remaining boxes via Japan Post. I saw these recent stamp releases at the local post office. I am looking forward to finding collectors in the US who want Japanese stamps.

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.

trading postage stamps (2)

I have weekly English lessons with a wonderful Japanese grandmother. She lives near one of the US military bases in town and took lessons for years from the wives of US military men. We have studied together about two years.

About a year ago, the subject of collecting used postage stamps came up. It turns out her husband (like many Japanese men of his generation) was an amateur collector years back. She told her grandson about my collection and he seemed interested. So I started giving her stamps to give to them each lesson. It is just my overstock, extra copies, and I give two of each stamp -- that way grandfather and grandson won't argue over who gets each stamp.

A little while back, the grandson (at grandmother's urging, no doubt) made a small gift for me -- he drew this on a hand-held fan and I quite liked it. For English-language readers, it basically says "thanks for the stamps. I especially like stamps with animals on them".

Unfortunately, most of my extras are boring pictures (for kids): boring dead people, boring buildings. But I am trying to slip in an animal or two among the buildings and portraits.

viva la france!

Had meant to post this one on or near July 14 for Bastille Day but it slipped through the cracks (work work work).

I received a nice assortment of older French stamps from an American with whom I trade stamps. I have a strange feeling all the time, as I have many older stamps in my collection from when I was a child, and that collection is buried in my father's basement in the US. Now I am getting a second collection going, all over here in Japan. I am waiting for the day when I can finally unite these two collections.

日本語 hints:

slip through the cracks = fall by the wayside - something I thought about doing but never accomplished