Stamp Tips for Newbies~Japan.

On 20 Aug, 14:31, Blair wrote:
On Aug 20, 1:00*am, "rodney" pookiethai@NOSPAM iprimus.com.au wrote:

That would be lovely, thanks Blair.
Do you have a link? *

"Blair"
Here is a site that shows all Japan commems, prefectures
and other stamps from 1998 to 2007.
Blair

Sorry, it didn't get pasted the first time.

Here's the link.http://yushu.or.jp/english/e_sdate/index.html

Blair

The copy of that site on the Wayback Machine takes you back to 1996:
http://web.archive.org/web/199909130...ate/index.html
(albeit with some pictures missing).

The prefecture names between the centred dot and office chair can be
looked up at, say, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefectures_of_Japan
(half way down). A few don't end with the chair, probably those which
are cities, e.g. Tokyo. Finding the prefecture is usually sufficient
to identify the stamp from the terse description given in SG.

I have some used on international mail, so IMHO there is really no
excuse now for SG not to list them properly as they do GB regionals.

Chris

Also, if one were to have the complete SG set of 47 prefectures of
SG2041-2087
(each Japan listing with the prefecture "dash in the box") you could
identify each prefecture easily.



The prefecture names between the centred dot and office chair can be
looked up at, say, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefectures_of_Japan
(half way down). A few don't end with the chair, probably those which
are cities, e.g. Tokyo. Finding the prefecture is usually sufficient
to identify the stamp from the terse description given in SG.

I have some used on international mail, so IMHO there is really no
excuse now for SG not to list them properly as they do GB regionals.

Chris

Yes, there are three prefectures which don't end with the chair:
Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Tokyo has its own character as the capital,
and the other two have a different character. Not at all sure if
they'll come out, but Tokyo is $BEl5~ET(B, Osaka is $BBg:eI\(B and Kyoto is $B5~ETI\(B.

Tony

wrote:

The prefecture names between the centred dot and office chair can be
looked up at, say, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefectures_of_Japan
(half way down). A few don't end with the chair, probably those which
are cities, e.g. Tokyo. Finding the prefecture is usually sufficient
to identify the stamp from the terse description given in SG.

Just to clarify. The "chair" symbol is the kanji for "ken".
This only applies to 43 of the 47 prefectures.

Since 1888, the prefectures of Japan are the country's
47 sub-national jurisdictions:
one "metropolis" (都 to), Tokyo;
one "circuit" (� d�), Hokkaid�;
two urban prefectures (府 fu), Osaka and Kyoto; and
43 other prefectures (県 ken).

Thus in Japanese, they are commonly referred to as
tod�fuken (都�府県?). Prefectures are governmental
bodies larger than cities, towns, and villages.

To, d�, fu, and ken differ in name only for historical reasons.
Since 1947, there is no administrative difference between
the four types.

Usually, prefectures are called by their name only, without
the suffix, except for Hokkaid�. However, the suffix is used
when it is necessary to distinguish between the prefecture
and a city of the same name. For example, Hiroshima-ken
is the Japanese name of the prefecture, and Hiroshima-shi
is its largest city.

The stamps are called "furusato" which I believe translates
roughly as "hometown" which would equate to the GB
regional stamps.

You may wish to bookmark the following for reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefect...t_in_ISO_Order
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Re...s_of_Japan.svg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefect...abetical_order

In the Japanese Sakura catalogue, these stanmps are prefixed with an
R.
In Scott they are listed after regular stamps and before semi-postals.
Scott gives them a prefix of Z, except for two prefecture semi-
postals
(earthquake relief) issued on 2000-Nov-15 (Sakura R441-442).
The latter two, Scott numbers as ZB1 and ZB2.
http://yushu.or.jp/english/e_sdate/0...00nov15f1.html

I hope that this helps.

Blair


Blair

Thanks very much, Blair.



"Blair"
Just to clarify. The "chair" symbol is the kanji for "ken".
This only applies to 43 of the 47 prefectures.

Since 1888, the prefectures of Japan are the country's
47 sub-national jurisdictions:
one "metropolis" (? to), Tokyo;
one "circuit" (? do), Hokkaido;
two urban prefectures (? fu), Osaka and Kyoto; and
43 other prefectures (? ken).