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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

A page from my stamp album - Japan

The postal history of Japan dates back to 1871 when the first indigenous Japanese stamp was issued in the month of April. A set of four stamps bearing faces of a pair of dragons. The face value of the stamps was in “mon.” The same design reappeared with the face value in yen a year later.

The first commemorative stamp of Japan was issued on the eve of Silver Jubilee celebrations of the wedding of Emperor Meiji in 1894. However it was in 1896 that a portrait appeared on the Japanese stamps. These stamps were issued to honour the Princes Kitashirakawa and Arisugawa for their role in the First Sino-Japanese War.




In 1935, Mt Fuji surfaced on the Japanese stamps on the eve of the new year. In 1942, Japan issued a series of definitive stamps to mark the Japanese entry into the WW-II.


The word “NIPPON” first appeared in 1966 on the Japanese stamps which continues till date. The Japanese postal system was privatized in 2003 and from then on all stamps are issued by the Japan Post.

The first two stamps in the second column from the left were issued in 1942 on the eve of the fall of Singapore.

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