切手

I’m not a 切手収集家 (stamp collector) but sometimes the post office offers 切手 (postage stamps) that I can’t refuse…so I have a few collectors’ sheets of stamps from the Japan Post Office.

One of them is the 「スター・ウォーズ切手」 (“Star Wars” stamps). These stamps came in a nice, hard-cover protective binder illustrated with Star Wars artwork.

Japanese "Star Wars" stamps

And here is the protective binder:

Another series of stamps that the post office in Japan offered a few years ago was what they called 「科学技術とアニメ・ヒーロー・ヒロインシリーズ」 (“Science & Technology and Anime Heros & Heroines Series“)…which included such anime as 「鉄腕アトム」 (“Astro Boy“) and 「名探偵コナン」 (“Detective Conan“)…but the one I got was Series Four: 「科学忍者隊ガッチャマン」 (“Science Ninjas: Gacchaman” (known overseas as: “Battle Of The Planets“)).

I used to watch this cartoon in America when I was a kid.

New Year Postal Lottery

As I mentioned in an early post (Click here to read it), Japanese people send 年賀状 (New Years Postcards) to friends and family.

On the back, in the lower right-hand corner, of every 年賀状 (New Years Postcards) is a six-digit number.

Every January, the Japan Post Office chooses random numbers for a kind of New Year Postal Lottery and if you received a 年賀状 (New Years Postcards) with one of the winning numbers, you can get a prize.

Yesterday, the winning numbers were announced.

Did you receive any Japanese 年賀状 (New Years Postcards)?
Check the number on the back to see if you’ve won. (If you have, bring the winning postcard to a post office to claim your present).

Here are the winning numbers for the 2009 lottery (of course, you can only win if you have a winning number on a 2009 年賀状 (New Years Postcards)):

• First Prize (Digital TV, Massage chair, Domestic (Japan) trip, Printer, Office goods, etc.)
  • 345898
• Second Prize (温泉 (Hot Springs) trip, Coffee maker, Digital camera, etc)
  • 663829
  • 908796
  • 028962
• Third Prize (Hotel stay, Coffee cake, etc)
  (Only the last four digits need to match):
  • 〇〇5070
• Fourth Prize (Sheet of postage stamps)
  (Only the last two digits need to match):
  • 〇〇〇〇94
  • 〇〇〇〇46
• “C group” (Panasonic garbage recycler, Bridgestone bicycle, Coleman camping set)
  • 882347
  • 223109

Did you win?

(BTW, Click here to visit the Japan Post page (in Japanese) that I found the winning numbers and prizes listed)