The Ambassadors - FEATURES - Vol.7,Issue 1 (January 2004)

Writing about the evolution of Japanese Stamps is a fascinating subject. Without the material, help, and support of the the Institute for Posts and Telecommunications Policy (IPTP) and Osaka Kampo Center, this work would have been impossible.

Trial air mail services were started in 1919 but were not officially begun until the Air Mail Regulations were established in 1929. To coincide with the start of the new service, the first stamps for use on air mail articles were issued and were used as ordinary stamps.
The last air mail stamp issued in Japan came out in 1953 and was called the 'Great Buddha air mail stamp.' At present there are no stamps issued exclusively for use on air mail.

This stamp was produced especially for use in stamp vending machines and automatic stamp affixing machines. Each roll contained 500 or 1,000 stamps joined vertically in a long band. Perforations were provided along the top and bottom of each stamp.
The roll stamps are also called 'coiled stamps.'

The design of the Tazawa stamps that had been used since 1913 had lost appeal with changing times. There were suggestions that a stamp with a new design should be issued.
New stamps featuring picture designs, in keeping with popular tastes of the time, were issued. These stamps were issued over three years until 1940. The denominations ranged from 5 rin (one-tenth of a sen) to 10 yen.

The official name of this stamp was the '10 Sen Postage Stamp for Attachment to the Postage Stamp Savings Mount.'
The postal savings system using postage stamps started in 1900. It was temporarily suspended after the Great Kanto Earthquake and savings of 50 sen or less were no longer accepted. A postal savings system using stamps was then revived to encourage saving of even small amounts.
The mount allowed the printed face of the postal savings stamp to be cut out and used on mail. This advantage set it apart from the mount for printed stamp faces used in the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912).

With the start of the Pacific War, stamps with a wartime look began appearing. Designs depicting the war were sought from the general public.
As the war continued, shortages of materials and labor developed. The quality of the paper and glue declined and most stamps were printed by the relief printing method which required little labor.
The Takinogawa printing shop was destroyed by fire in an air-raid in April 1945, and once again printing of stamps was consigned to a private corporation. During this period of extreme confusion it was difficult to make all stamps uniform, and there were differences in the paper and color used. Some stamps did not have perforations or glue. The simple lithography printing method was reverted to during this period.

Toward the end of the Pacific War, destruction by fire of the printing shop and the decline of transportation facilities upset the balance of supply and demand for postage stamps. Therefore, the Communications Bureau (the present-day Posts and Telecommunications Bureau) in each district was asked to produce its own stamps. However, in reality the stamps never reached the production stage, except for one stamp issued in Taiwan immediately after the end of the war. This stamp had three denominations: 3 sen, 5 sen and 10 sen.
This stamp was requisitioned by the Chinese government only about ten days after it was released, so its role as a Japanese stamp was very short-lived.

Use of the Imperial Chrysanthemum Crest Abolished and Designs With a Wartime Theme Prohibited

After the end of the war in 1945, Japan's establishments began to embrace democracy and peace. In 1947 the Allied Forces general headquarters abolished the twenty-five types of stamps with militaristic designs and which were still in use at the time. A competition for a design appropriate for the new post-war era of peace was held. A stamp with the winning design was issued as part of a new group which became known as the 'New-Showa stamps.'
At this time, the characters for "Japanese Empire Post" were replaced by the characters for "Japan Post" and in 1948, use of the imperial chrysanthemum crest on stamps was abolished. From this time on, the characters appearing on the stamp were arranged in order from left to right, opposite to the previous order of the characters.

With the revision of postal charges in July, a group of stamps whose designs showed people involved in industry in the period of recovery was issued. These stamps became the so-called 'industry design stamps.'
From this issue on, denominations indicated on all stamps appeared in Arabic numerals only.

"Black Penny"
(1840)

Zürich Nr. 1

Digit on net
(1843)

"Basler Täubchen"
(1845)

"Schwarzer Einser"
(1849)

"Sachsen-Dreier"
(1850)

Amb. Moto Nishimura, MA, Ed.D, Vice Dean of Rotary Peace Ambassadors and Hon. Member of the Rotary Club of Wagga Wagga-Kooringal, RI Dist. 9700. He is a peace educator and a strong advocate for healthy cultural interactions.