This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). Now ubiquitous in many of Japan’s 9,000 stations, the first eki stamp appeared in 1931 at Fukui station near the Sea of Japan coast, ...

As stamp markets go, Japan is of interest for a number of reasons. It is a mature market in a prosperous country where demographics favor growth in stamp collecting. Japan has demographically aged ...

TOKYO – Almost weekly Momo Nomura makes time to visit Shinto shrines. She performs the prescribed rituals — cleansing her hands, ringing a bell, bowing and clapping. But her main purpose is getting a ...

Snap-happy Japan’s love affair with the camera has reached new heights — people can now put their face or favorite pic on a stamp. JAPAN IS THE birthplace of the wildly popular “Print Club” booths, ...

From ‘Railroad Station Stamp Designs,’ published by Seigensha (all images courtesy Seigensha) From ‘Railroad Station Stamp Designs,’ published by Seigensha (click to enlarge) The book, unfortunately ...

Stamps are indispensable for any celebration in Japan - be it Emperor Akihito's wedding anniversary, his 20th year of ascension or the golden jubilee year of Japanese weekly comic books for boys. A ...

If you plan on living in Japan for an extended period of time, one of the things you’ll need to get your life started here is a special seal with your name on it, called a hanko, which is used to ...

Three of the stamps the U.S. Postal Service will release next year will celebrate Asian American history and culture. Of over a dozen new stamps that will be issued next year, one will celebrate the ...

To mark the 75th anniversary of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, a group of California-based activists is calling on the U.S. government to honor the lives of wartime Japanese ...

Japan’s new prime minister is declaring war, but there’s no danger of an international conflict: the target of his ire is the humble ink stamp known as hanko. It might seem paradoxical in a country ...