Japan - Year of the Snake 2025,

My very first new year card of 2025 arrived today, from Japan as last years. 

Thank you so much magenta!

Japan - Year of Dragon 2024,

 

Thank you Yoshiko!

Japon - Inge Look Aunties N0.69

 

Thank you Dini!

Japan - Year of Dragon card,

My first New year card arrived from Japan as tradition. Japan is the first country to issue the Lunar new year stamp each year.

 

Thank you so much Magenta! 

Japan - Le petit prince,

Today I have received a mail from Japan with two beautiful Le petit prince cards inside

The sender used a Le petit prince stamp issued in 2020 for postage fee. 

Thank you so much Yoshiko!

Japan - Doraemon card,

Thank you Rina for this card and for the translation to Vietnamese on back side. "Không có gì mà người khác có thể làm mà chỉ có bạn không thể". I love it. 

Japan - Doraemon card,

The Doraemon postmark is so cool! I read Doraemon since I was a boy. Until now, sometimes I till read it for relaxing.

 

Thank you so much Megumi!

Japan - Doraemon new year card,

 

Thank you Marie! Doraemon is so cool!

Japan - Little prince card,

Today I received The little prince card sent from Japan. The card shows an original aquarelle of Petit Prince. The pictorial postmark is from Little prince museum in Japan. It is so sad to hear that they will close it soon.

Thank you so much Nana!
 

Japan - Year of the Rabbit 2023,

My first YoR/YoC card is from Japan. It arrived so fast. Sent on 1 Nov and I got it in my hand on 8 Nov. Took only a week to arrive. 

Japan is the first country issued Lunar new year stamp each year.

In Vietnam, instead of the Rabbit, the Cat is in this zodiac cirle. And only in Vietnam, we have Year of the Cat. I don't explain or discuss about this difference : Rabbit or Cat, just accept and like it.

 Thank you so much Fumie for sending me a wonderful card. Unfortunatly, Vietnam don't have snow in winter, eventhough the weather is very cold in that season I am sure.

Japan - Year of the Tiger card

The card shows 'Lucky tiger' I think. Very creative. The stamp is lotery stamp.
 

Thank you so much Magenta!

Japan, Year of the Rat 2020,

New year greeting postcards of Japon are always make me smile They are so cute. 

Thank you magenta!

Year of the Pig 2019

There is a group on postcrossing forum whose members are from countries that issue lunar new year stamps. I don't know for how long that group exits but I begun joining that group in the end of 2014 for the Year of the Goat issue. It is a group that each member send the card to other by using the lunar new year stamp to each other, once per year.

This year, Year of the Pig, I continue this project as representant of Vietnam.

Here are some thing I got from this group:

 Thank you SSLiew for this Thailand  card. He used the both issue Year of the Pig for this card. One issued in Pig year 2007 and the center one is the new.

Thank you MariceNZ for this zoo postcard. The pig is so cool. And the first day postmark is perfect!

Thank you hazelyc for this prepaid postcard. The jade pig is really beautiful. I think you don't know but Jade is my favorite one. Thank you for the first day postmark.

Thank you jannepungar for this Pooh card. I read story about Pooh when I was a youngboy.

Thank you Maxxie for the Shanghai card. I know a litte chinese and I can read the character Shanghai on the postmark. I love your city a lot.

Merci beaucoup Véronique pour ta carte. Très jolie. J'aime bien le timbre comme la couleur, le design sont assez interesant pour cette année. Je déteste autocollant timbres comme quelques années précedentes.

 

Thank you magenta for this special card. When we touch on the card, we can feel something quite interesting. :D

Thank you Kayjin. The round pig looks so cute!

Thank you phoebe! Macau card is always one of my favorite. I love Macau current lunar new year stamps.

Thank you all and hope to see you again next year for the Year of the Rat issue.

China, Japan, Year of the Dog postcards,

Japan, Raijin first day cover,

Raijin , I know about it when I was a child by manga such as Yaiba by Aoyama Gosho or some others by Clamps so it is not something stranger to me.

Raijin (雷神) is a god of lightning, thunder[1] and storms in the Shinto religion and in Japanese mythology.

His name is derived from the Japanese words rai (雷, "thunder") and "god" or "kami" (神 shin). He is typically depicted as a demon-looking spirit beating drums to create thunder, usually with the symbol tomoe drawn on the drums. He is also known by the following names:

-          Raiden-sama: rai (雷, thunder), den (電, lightning), and -sama (様, a Japanese honorific of reverence, glossed as master)

-          Yakusa no ikazuchi no kami: Yakusa (八, eight) and ikazuchi (雷, thunder) and kami (神, spirit or deity)

-          Kaminari-sama: kaminari (雷, kaminari, thunder) and -sama (様, master)

-          Narukami: naru (鳴, thundering/rolling) and kami (神, spirit or deity)

Myth

Raijin was created by the divine pair Izanami and Izanagi after the creation of Japan. There is a legend which says the eight lightning gods were charged with protection of the Dharma by the Buddha. This kind of syncretism, called Shinbutsu-shūgō, is not unusual in Japan, even after the 1868 order that formally separated Shinto and Buddhism. Raijin's companion is the demon Raiju. In Japanese art, the deity is known to challenge Fūjin, the wind god.

Some Japanese parents tell their children to hide their belly buttons during thunderstorms. This is due to a folk belief that Raijin is sometimes credited with eating the navels or abdomens of children, and in the event of thunder, parents traditionally tell their children to hide their navels so that they are not taken away.

 This stampset shows the masterpiece of Tawaraya Sotatsu: Wind God and Thunder God (紙本金地著色風神雷神図). 

Wind God and Thunder God (紙本金地著色風神雷神図) is a pair of two-folded screens made using ink and color on gold-foiled paper. It depicts Raijin, the god of lightning, thunder and storms in the Shinto religion and in Japanese mythology, and Fūjin, the god of wind. The screens have no inscription or seal, but its attribution to Tawaraya Sotatsu is not questioned.

It is a particularly prominent work in the Rinpa school because two other of its major figures, Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) and Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828), replicated the painting in homage (see Kōrin's version). All three versions of the work were displayed together for the first time in seventy-five years in 2015, at the Kyoto National Museum exhibition "Rinpa: The Aesthetics of the Capital".

Each screen measures 169.8 cm × 154.5 cm (66.9 in × 60.8 in). They belong to the Zen Buddhist temple Kennin-ji in Kyoto, but they are exhibited occasionally in the Kyoto National Museum. They are a National Treasure of Japan.

Thank you so much, Masako!

Japan, Give-away card,

My friend found a box with full of new cards and she do not need them anymore so she decided to give away them to others. And this is one she sent me. The view looks like a scene in the manga I like: Ayashi No Ceres!

Thank you so much.

Japan, Year of the dog minisheet,

 Minisheet year of the dog from Japan post as a prize for spring lottery. It is only sold on internet or for the winner from the lottery.

The design is all different with the Dog year stamp set released before. They used the same stamp design for this minisheet precedent year but this year it was changed. And see how nice is it, the surface of minisheet!

Thank you Masako!

Japan, Year of the Dog 2018 issue

I always love japanese lunar new year issue. They release not only the beautiful design stamps but also very nice first day postmark.

 Furthermore, Japan has an abundance of new year cards which is released in serie each year. Here are two unofficial maxicards I got in this mail. The second one I had got the same serie for Year of the Rooster as well.

Thank you so much masako! It is the third time we swap lunar new year issue. Hope to see you again in Year of the Pig.