Category Archives: special postcards

Postbox Cards From Japan

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It is always a delight to receive cards from Japan so imagine how happy I was to get a notice from the local Post Office that I got a parcel from Japan. I went to the post one morning to pick up my envelope, and as expected, it was such a treat!

Mommy Clang, one of my oldest postcrossing friends, sent me a couple of Postbox cards. I got one featuring Halloween and I love it because it is purple! ^_^ The other postbox card features a Japanese festival, Tanabata.

According to Wikipedia:

Tanabata {七夕, meaning “Evening of the seventh”}, also known as the Star Festival, is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi {represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively}. According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on 7 July of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.

I also got a cute little Fukushima gotochi card, which I love. Mommy Clang even sent me a couple of lovely washi tapes, which I will be adding to my growing collection! Thank you as always, Mommy Clang, I will be sending you an envelope from the Philippines very soon! ^_^

New Year’s Day Postcard 2017

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One of the things that I look forward to in postcrossing is receiving lovely cards from Japan. It seems like the country got the lion share of everything kawaii {did you know that even sewer covers are a thing of beauty in this country?!}.

For a while now, I have been getting these beautiful New Year’s Day postcards from a friend in Fukushima. She sends the most colorful and beautiful cards. For 2017’s Year of the Rooster, she sent me this lovely rooster card. Ain’t she a pretty?

Did you know that it is customary for Japanese people to send New Year’s Day postcards? In fact, the end of December and the beginning of January are the busiest times for the Japanese post offices as people send nengajō to their friends and relatives. According to Wikipedia, the original purpose of this tradition was to give faraway friends and relatives tidings of themselves and their immediate family and tell others whom they did not often meet that they were alive and well.

Japanese people send these postcards so that they arrive on 1 January. The post office guarantees to deliver the greeting postcards on 1 January if they are posted within a time limit, from mid-December to near the end of the month and are marked with the word nengajō. To deliver these cards on time, the post office usually hires students part-time to help deliver the letters.

It was a beautiful tradition, right, something that every postcrosser will appreciate. I sure love the thought that went into sending this colorful card to me. Thank you so much, Mommy Clang, and I sure hope you got the Christmas card I sent soon.

Meanwhile, I am getting a bunch of cards ready to be posted on my next post office visit. Tradition or not, I would love to help keep snail mail alive in the Philippines with my little contribution. I will be preparing my postcards as soon as I am done writing all about the guitar center virginia.

Happy New Year to all! May this year brings us many surprises in the mail and more reasons to travel and explore the world! ^_^

A Postcard From Starring You

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postcards, smile cards, special postcards, Starring You

This Hongkong Postcard is the 3rd card I got from Starring You, if my memory will serve me right. It is always a joy to receive a postcard in the mail, especially if it is a surprise! For those who are in the know, Starring You is a Facebook Page that aims to spread postcrossing everywhere and sends a free postcard to anyone who messaged them with their mailing details. Isn’t this a cool idea to spread postcrossing to the world and to think that they even do this free of charge!

Here is a brief description about Starring You I’ve chanced upon on their Fan Page:

Nowadays we receive electronic messages via Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, MSN and many other online media. Did we forget how it was to receive something tangible from the mailman? A card or a letter from another city, country or perhaps even from another continent. We’ll write you a personal message from one of the wonderful places we’ll visit and this message will travel all the way to your home. 

Our mission is to share as many beautiful places as possible with everybody who’s interested. Not everybody has the time, the means or the opportunity to travel, but via Starring You we hope to take you all with us around the world!

Sometimes we will also surprise you by sending you the banknotes or coins that we’ve got left from the countries that we’ve visited!

The service is completely for free, because of our donors. After receiving your first handwritten mail you can decide to donate, but that’s completely on voluntary basis. Sometimes we do something special for our donors. For example, the postcards from Malawi and Zambia were exclusively for the people who help us financially. For support via PayPal you can use this address: starringyou@outlook.com. If you have any questions about supporting Starring You, just write us a message for more information.

Our team consists out of Michael, a former student from The Netherlands, and some people who help him to keep everything running smoothly.

postcards, smile cards, special postcards, Starring You

Starring You have been in so many different countries, including Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and a bunch of others. In August, they visited Hong Kong, Macau, The Netherlands and Belgium. I think they also went to Japan. Some wonderful time they sure are having exploring and traveling the world, right? I won’t mind doing the same, if given the chance!

Big shout outs to Starring You for taking the time to write out this card for me in between their trips. I particularly love receiving their surprise cards because of the many stars they lovingly wrote at the back. How many do you think these are?

Anyway, I will find time to look for the other cards Starring You sent me this weekend so that I might share them here, too. Do stay tuned for that and a lovely weekend to all!

Musicians on Postcards

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postcards, special cards, vintage cards

I know I’ve just posted about a postcard shopping frenzy recently, but my dear postcrosser friend who was kind enough to buy me those postcard stash seemed to be on a roll. She contacted me and told me she found these very nice vintage postcards that sell for only P1 each! Now, who can say no to day great bargain, right? I responded excitedly and asked if she can get me a bunch.

The postcards, almost 200 pieces of them were delivered by the courier a few weeks back and I am rather impressed. Apart from the cards of local landmarks in Manila in very beautiful sepia colors, I also got a number of postcards featuring different stuff at the turn of the century, including this musical band. They may not have gibson es 175 or other modern instruments at the time, but am sure they made beautiful rhythm and symphonies, nonetheless.

I have yet to update my swap album with my latest acquisition, but you may view them here anytime you want if you’d like to swap with me. Simply drop me a line! 🙂