Thursday, December 02, 2010

rubber stamps at the japanese post office

every year in december, i love seeing the stamps (rubber stamps for stamping, of course the postage stamps are cute too!) at the post office.

they are put out for people to use to make their own new years cards (in japan, sending new years cards is a very big deal, christmas cards are not). new years cards are postcards, usually featuring a design that incorporates some version of the coming year's zodiac animal (2011 is the year of the rabbit, or usagi in japanese), and some phrase celebrating the new year.

the stamps in the box in this photo include lots of bunnies and also 'happy new year' phrases. what I love is how the post office provides this public (and free) crafting activity! there are black and red stamp pads, rubber mats (dark orange in the photo), tissues and scrap paper for trying out your designs.

3 comments:

Laura said...

That is awesome! I wish our post office here (in Canada) would do a crafting activity. Can you show us a picture of a card you made? I'd love to see!

liz said...

i know, i can't imagine this an any post office in any other country, especially not the u.s.! it goes along with really nice service in general at the japan post office, including providing tape, etc.

i have to admit, i haven't used the post office stamps yet myself, but i plan to! and also although it's already december, i haven't even started to think about designing my new years cards for 2011 yet. but i will be sure to share them!

Justin said...

I'm a rabbit! Not suggesting I should receive any special new years card or rabbit crafts or anything like that...