Japan postage stamp: toy dragon
c. 1975, symbolic New Year’s Greeting for 1976 depicting the Tatsu-guruma toy
designed by Y. Kikuchi
Japan postage stamp: letter writing bear
c. 1980, for Letter Writing Day
designed by M. Sato and S. Watanabe
Ryukyu Islands stamp: Japan and U.S.A. flags
c. 1972
in honor of United States-Japan Agreement to return Ryukyu Islands to Japan
designed by S. Tamanaha
Japan postage stamp: sun and dragonflies
c. 1923, part of Earthquake Emergency Series
designed M. Yoshizaki
“The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 destroyed the warehouses of the Printing Bureau and Communications Ministry (the current Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications). The equipment necessary for producing stamps and most of the stamps which had been stored were lost. As an emergency measure to make up for the shortage of stamps, the government consigned production of stamps to a private corporation. This corporation produced stamps known as the ‘Earthquake stamps.’ The stamps did not have perforations or glue, but a watermark called the ‘earthquake watermark’ was used. The Printing Bureau was reconstructed much sooner than expected and the earthquake stamps were abolished on April 30, 1925.” —Evolution of Japanese Stamps
Please visit the Red Cross or other charitable organizations to help victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, Japan and other affected regions. Google has launched Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake and W+K Tokyo has set up a person finding aggregator, buji.me/.
