Japan

Philatelic materials related to Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression

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Japan, is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, China, Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south.
Japan it is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. The population of 126 million is the world's tenth largest. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the world's largest metropolitan area with over 35 million residents and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy. [R1]

The story of the postage stamps and postal history of Japan begins with official government posts, which had existed for some time prior to 1630, when they were reformed. In 1870, Baron Maeshima visited London to learn the workings of the British postal system, then founded Japan’s modern postal system in 1871. The first stamps were issued in April 1871, in a set of four covering the different postal rates; the intricate two-color design consisted of a pair of dragons facing towards the center, where the characters of value were printed in black. [R2]
Example of commemorative post on international cover of Japan
A cover sent to an international address.

Japan uses their own, traditional, calendar that is based on the length of time that the emperor reigns. Each time a new emperor begins to rule, a new counting of the years starts and the period acquires a new name. For example: 6. 2. 24 can be February 24th, 2023 or February 24th, 1994.
The first number is the year number since the new emperor began to rule, followed by the month and day.

Dates on all commemorative postmarks of Japan are of their traditional calendar. In case of international letters, additional postmark with international date placed on the cover. See examples on the right - two covers sent from the same post office on the same day. One sent to an address in Japan, the other to Germany. The cover to Germany has an additional postmark with international date, even thought it was not required, as all stamps were already cancelled by commemorative postmark. The second stamp on the cover to Japan is cancelled by regular postmark with Japanese date.





Some personalized stamps of Japan related to Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression

2022 03.11.2023, "Japex 2023 (58th Japan Philatelic Exhibition): Support for Ukraine"
Personalized postage stamps issued to support for Ukraine, Japan 2022 Personalized postage stamps issued to support for Ukraine, Japan 2023



Commemorative postmarks of Japan related to Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression



Legend is here

03.11.2023, "Japex 2023 (58th Japan Philatelic Exhibition): Support for Ukraine"
Support for Ukraine on postmark of Japan 2023



Postal stationeries of Japan related to Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression

2023
Support for Ukraine aerogramme of Japan 2023



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