A Map of Fukei-in (scenic postmarks) in Japan (bilingual post)

[mooseontheloose]

この投稿は英語と日本語の両方で行われる。(Japanese follows English)

Since I joined Postcrossing I have become obsessed with fukei-in (scenic postmarks) as well as other postal places (mailboxes, museums, etc). Since I find the Japanese sites difficult to navigate, I have created a Google Map of all the post offices that have fukei-in postmarks (this is a work-in-progess but the first stage is done). I think this makes it easier to find post offices, especially if one is travelling and/or wants to get cancels in person (rather than mailing away for them). I’d like to share that map here.

Please note:

1. There are thousands of fukei-in postmarks. I started with the JP Post website. All the postmarks listed on their website make up the first layer (1230 stamps). I colour-coded each prefecture by a different colour to make it more visually easy to find them.
2. The JP website only lists “newer” cancels, I think from about 2005 (maybe earlier). These postmarks may be new issues, or changed because of a post office name change, or just an updated design from an older one.
3. Generally, all pins are marked with the JP postal mark, but if a stamp features a train or plane, it will have that icon, and if it is heart-shaped it will have the icon (there are a few others as well). This isn’t consistent across the map but I will go back and try to fix things where I can.
4. I realized too late that I should have put the descriptions in the description box, so those will be added later, if the post office has supplied the description. I think this is useful if you want to match a stamp/postcard of a local place/event to the fukei-in stamp.
5. Since the JP post site only lists newer scenic postmarks, I’ve begun using other websites for other postmark designs. If and when I can get my own cancels I will start replacing them with my images. As many of the websites are old the information may or may not be accurate. I’ve just started working on the Kyoto stamps and already noticed that some post offices don’t exist, or perhaps have moved elsewhere. These older stamps are in Layer 3 (you can click or unclick the layers you want to see).
6. The second layer is of postal museums and interesting mailboxes around Japan. I may separate these two later but for now they are in the same layer.
7. Just FYI: the 1230 pins on this map took me one month to produce, so it will take much longer to add all the other postmarks, plus descriptions. But I’ve enjoyed doing it, I’ve actually learned about a lot of festivals and unique places that I had never heard of before because of these postmarks.

Here is the map: Fukei-in Postmarks in Japan

A few concerns:

1. My Japanese is very limited, especially when it comes to reading kanji, and translation programs don’t always translate them accurately. So there may be mistakes in the map. If you notice any, please feel free to tell me.
2. In the pins that have descriptions (mostly Kyushu and Okinawa), I have relied on the Google Translate translation - if something looks strange or incorrect, please feel free to tell me.
3. I know there is a “scenic cancel” thread on Postcrossing, but I would like to use this thread for people to post scenic cancels that are only in Japan. If you would like me to add them to the map, please post those images here (or send them to me in a private message), and let me know the name/address of the post office and some information about the stamp, if you know it.
4. As far as I know, Google Maps only allows 10,000 pins and 10 layers on a single map. So while it would make sense to have a different layer for every prefecture, that won’t work. I think it’s easy enough for now to see where the locations are if you zoom in close enough.

If there’s anything else you have noticed or think I should add, please let me know (in English or Japanese). Thanks!

ポストクロッシングに参加して以来、私は風景印やその他の郵便物（郵便ポスト、博物館など）に夢中になっている。日本のサイトをナビゲートするのは難しいと思うので、私はすべての普請切手のある郵便局のグーグルマップを作りました（これはまだ作業中ですが、第一段階は終わりました）。これで郵便局を見つけやすくなり、特に旅行中や（郵送ではなく）直接切手を手に入れたい場合に便利だと思う。この地図をここで共有したい。

ご注意ください：

1. 何千もの普請切手がある。私はJPポストのウェブサイトから始めた。JPポストのウェブサイトに掲載されているすべての切手が第1層（1230枚）を構成している。視覚的に探しやすくするため、各都道府県を異なる色で色分けした。
2. JPのウェブサイトには、2005年頃（それ以前かもしれない）の「新しい」切手しか掲載されていない。これらの切手は、新しい発行であったり、郵便局名の変更に伴って変更されたものであったり、古い切手からデザインを一新したものであったりする。
3. 通常、すべての切手にはJPポスタルマークが付きますが、列車や飛行機が描かれた切手にはそのアイコンが、ハート型の切手にはそのアイコンが付きます（他にもいくつかあります）。これは地図全体で一貫しているわけではないが、戻って修正できるところは修正しようと思う。
4. 説明欄に説明文を入れるべきだったことに気づくのが遅すぎた。これは、地元の場所やイベントの切手／絵葉書とフケイイン切手を照合したい場合に便利だと思う。
5. JPポストのサイトには新しい風景切手しか掲載されていないので、他の切手のデザインはこのサイトを利用するようになった。もし自分のキャンセルを手に入れることができたら、自分のイメージに置き換えるつもりです。このサイトは古いので、情報が正確かどうかはわかりません。京都の切手に取り組み始めたばかりですが、すでにいくつかの郵便局が存在しないか、おそらく別の場所に移転していることに気づきました。これらの古い切手はレイヤー3にあります（見たいレイヤーをクリックしたり外したりできます）。
6. 真ん中のレイヤーは、日本各地の郵便博物館や興味深い郵便ポストのレイヤーである。この2つは後で分けるかもしれないが、今のところ同じレイヤーにある。
7. 参考までに：この地図の1230個のピンを作るのに1ヶ月かかったので、他のすべての切手と説明を追加するにはもっと時間がかかるだろう。このスタンプのおかげで、今まで知らなかったお祭りやユニークな場所をたくさん知ることができた。

これがその地図だ： 日本の福慧院スタンプ

少し心配なことがある：

1. 私の日本語はとても不自由で、特に漢字を読むことに関しては、翻訳プログラムが必ずしも正確に翻訳してくれるとは限らない。ですから、地図に間違いがあるかもしれません。もしお気づきの点があれば、遠慮なく教えてください。
2. 説明文のあるピン（主に九州と沖縄）については、グーグル翻訳の翻訳に頼っている。
3. Postcrossingに "scenic cancel "スレッドがあるのは知っていますが、このスレッドを使って、日本にしかない風景キャンセルを投稿してもらいたいと思います。地図に追加してほしい場合は、その画像をここに投稿して（またはプライベート・メッセージで送って）、郵便局の名前と住所、切手についての情報が分かれば教えてください。
4. 私の知る限り、グーグルマップは10,000ピンと10レイヤーしか登録できません。そのため、都道府県ごとに異なるレイヤーを持つことは理にかなっているが、それはうまくいかないだろう。今のところ、近くにズームインすればどこに何があるかは簡単にわかると思う。

他に気づいたこと、追加したほうがいいと思うことがあれば、（英語でも日本語でも）教えてください。
(translated by DeepL)

Edit: I’ve updated the post (and title) to replace “stamp” with scenic postmark or cancel, but stamp/postmark/cancel may be used interchangeably throughout this thread, just because.

[Tetsuko]

Wow - thanks a lot for all your great work.

One question. If I would buy Japanese stamps, take a Postcard, mail it to one of the post offices, would they then return it with the Fukei-in stamp? Would that work when I send it from abroad?

[mooseontheloose]

I haven’t done it yet, even here in Japan, but there is another postcrosser here who does it. They may chime in here about how they do it. That said, I do know that you have to make sure there is enough postage on the card to send it back to you, and/or if you are sending multiple cards, to have enough postage on the envelope. You also have to be very clear about where you want the cancel.

[Anurag]

Great work, thanks!!

@anon53901351

[kei17]

Thank you very much for your wonderful map, Rachelle @mooseontheloose
It’s very interesting!

I am neither a philatelist nor a native English speaker, but I think 風景印 Fukei-in is a postmark, not a stamp
I read both of your message in the first post and found that if we call it stamp, translations in Japanese becomes 切手 which means postage stamp.
I don’t know the difference between “postmark” and “cancellation” but I found the thread about it in this forum, Pictorial Postmarks, so it seems that “postmark” is better for 風景印 because it’s one of the pictorial postmarks.

[mooseontheloose]

I agree - I think cancellation or postmark is better, but the (Google) translation on the website always comes up as “stamp” so that’s what I’ve become used to.

[kei17]

@Tetsuko

One question. If I would buy Japanese stamps, take a Postcard, mail it to one of the post offices, would they then return it with the Fukei-in stamp? Would that work when I send it from abroad?

Hello dear Corinna @Tetsuko
I think your idea will work at most post office. Maybe it’s better to write your message to them in Japanese.
But some post office can’t handle international mail. They’re called 簡易郵便局 in Japanese. 簡易 means easy and simple. They only have limited services.
For example, here’s a information about pictorial postmark of 小泊簡易郵便局.
This web page dosen’t have English version so please use your translation function. You can see the message there that “Our office does not handle international mail.”

[mooseontheloose]

I agree with @kei17 - a lot of times the translation will just show “simple post office” and those are often the ones without an official name (but not always).

FWIW, I think some of the best scenic cancels are the ones NOT on my map - they are the older, more established ones that have not changed in decades. That’s the next part I need to work on, but there are THOUSANDS of scenic cancels, and the websites that host the photos are quite old as well, so it’s unknown if the post offices still have them (but they probably do). That’s why I wanted to make this post - I know there are quite a few Japanese postcrossers who collect scenic cancels and/or make maxicards out of them, so they probably know a lot more than I do, since I’ve only really known about them for about 2 months and have been actively working on the map for about a month. And, my Japanese sucks, so it’s hard to figure out the translations sometimes, or to search for names/kanji that I’m unfamiliar with, to make sure I’m getting the right information.

(not my translation):
ちなみに、最高の景観キャンセルのいくつかは、私の地図に載っていないものだと思う。それは私が次に取り組まなければならない部分なのですが、何千もの風景キャンセルはありますし、写真をホストしているウェブサイトもかなり古いので、郵便局がそれらをまだ持っているかどうかは不明です（でもおそらく持っているでしょう）。だからこの投稿をしようと思ったんだ。日本のポストクロッサーの中には、風景版キャンセルを集めたり、それを使ってマキシカードを作ったりしている人がたくさんいるのは知っているから、たぶん僕よりずっと詳しいだろう。それに、僕の日本語は下手くそだから、時々訳を考えたり、知らない名前や漢字を検索して、正しい情報を得るのが大変なんだ。

[-Makoto-]

Konbanwa!
@mooseontheloose Great initiative

I am looking for them on the web as well, since I can’t see all the Fukei-in on the Japan Post website.
Among them, there are several websites to which I refer.

For example, none of the Fukei-in for my area appear on the Japan Post website
It think… would be wonderful if we could share actual images of such Fukei-in and information about post offices

Speaking of which…
A certain person active on the Forum seems to be trying to “郵頼(Yurai)” from oversea, and she has actually succeeded in getting a Fukei-in
(The term “Yurai” refers to… request a stamp to be stamped by mail.)

[mooseontheloose]

Thanks @-Makoto- ! I agree - hopefully if we can share our information we can create a more up-to-date list of all the fukei-in currently available in Japan. I’d also like to create a list of the “small” postmarks, the ones that are black (not red) and often just for a limited time (like letter-writing day, or from USJ, etc.). But I know less about them than I do about fukei-in so…I think I’ll leave it to others to explain more about them (I don’t even know the proper term in Japanese, it always gets translated as “small stamp” or “small cancel”.)

I would like to make a wiki for this group so everyone could post and edit, but I don’t seem to have the ability to create one.

[-Makoto-]

Everyone’s first attempt at something new can be fraught with anxiety, so hope we can all work together to find a better way to get things done

If we were to share information about Fukei-in here, would the following be acceptable?

松山中央郵便局(Matsuyama Central Post Office)
〒790-8799
愛媛県松山市三番町３－５－２
3-5-2,Sanbancho,Matsuyama-shi,Ehime

• 松山城(Matsuyama Castle)
• 道後温泉本館(Dōgo Onsen Honkan)
• 正岡子規句碑(Masaoka Shiki Monument)
• 姫だるま(Hime Daruma)
  
  

広島中郵便局(Hiroshima Naka Post office)
〒730-0011
広島県広島市中区基町６－３６
6-36,Motomachi,Hiroshima-shi Naka-ku,Hiroshima

• 原爆ドーム(Atomic Bomb Dome)
• 平和大橋(Peace Bridge)
  
  

[mooseontheloose]

Those are great! If it’s okay I’ll add them to the map.

[MAKIKO-S]

広島江波郵便局
〒730-0833
広島県広島市中区江波本町１４－２２

おさんぎつね、江波山気象館、似島がデザインされています。

[MAKIKO-S]

日浦郵便局（Hiura post office)
〒731-3399
広島県広島市安佐北区あさひが丘３－１７－１８
安佐動物公園、象、シャクナゲ

[MAKIKO-S]

倉敷本町郵便局
〒710-0054 岡山県倉敷市本町２－１６

倉敷最古の蔵屋敷です。

[MAKIKO-S]

岩国西郵便局
〒741-0062
山口県岩国市岩国２－１７－１７

錦帯橋と桜が描かれています
橋が好きな方に良いかも

[mooseontheloose]

I really want to get this postmark - I know I can mail in my request but as I used to live in Hiroshima and Yamaguchi there’s a good chance that I’ll be back to visit Iwakuni on one of my return visits to the area.

[MAKIKO-S]

広島 もみじ郵便局
〒739-0402
広島県廿日市市対厳山２－１６－２２

もみじの枠に宮島と紅まんさくがデザインされています。

[MAKIKO-S]

広島に住んでて気まぐれに風景印をもらってます。
海外にうけそうなもので郵便局のホームページに載ってないのをいくつか投稿しました。（まだまだある💦）

[delda]

I think you knew my answer to your question already, Corinna, since you had participated in my giveaways, but I will state here for others too.

@Tetsuko

One question. If I would buy Japanese stamps, take a Postcard, mail it to one of the post offices, would they then return it with the Fukei-in stamp? Would that work when I send it from abroad?

Yes, if you send your request to a post office that offers a fukei-in, and state clearly that you would like to get a fukei-in on whatever item carrying sufficient postage stamp(s), they will return the item the way you ask with a fukei-in.

Here is how to proceed:

(1) Prepare your items with sufficient postage stamp(s). Note that Japan Post requires the stamp(s) be added up to the minimal value (today it’s 63 yens, which allows you to send a postcard within Japan) for postmarking.
(2) Mail your request to a post office that offers a fukei-in with a written instruction, preferably in Japanese. Make sure that on the envelope you indicate clearly that the mail is intended for post office staff by inscribing after the name of the post office (XXX郵便局) a phrase such as:

• XXX郵便局（風景印押印依頼在中） ＝ (request of pictorial postmark therein)
• XXX郵便局 風景印押印担当あて ＝ (to the person in charge of the pictorial postmark)

And that’s it!

Postmarking qualified items is free of charge, so all you need to worry is how to get enough of Japanese stamps to make up the required postage. If you send your request to a post office, the clerks who represent Japan Post are not allowed to help you ‘personally’ – this is to say, if you are just lacking 10 yens or a small amount, they are not allowed to buy the 10-yen stamp using their own personal money and fix it on your item. They will have to send your request back to you with a note indicating that 10 yens are missing.

BUT – if you send your request to some organisations – like the German embassy or a tourist centre in Japan, and ask someone to help you – chances are some good-hearted people will do you this favour by fixing the required stamps on your items and get them sent to you. I know an Italian collector of covers/postcards from rare countries used to do this without any return postage stamp included in her request, and sometimes she did get something back. However insofar as I know, Japan Post clerks are not allowed to do this favour for customers.

---

Additional notes about rule #1:

If you use multiple stamps to make up the required 63 yens, you need to pay attention to the distance between them. A fukei-in is 36 mm in diameter, so if the distance between the stamps is smaller than 36 mm, both stamps will be postmarked only once.

If the distance between them is greater than 36 mm, the same fukei-in can be applied twice.

Example with 3 stamps:

Note that you need 63 yens to request one postmark, so says, if you also want a regular circular black cancel with Japanese inscription (called ‘和文印’, which I will called ‘Japanese cancel’ in what follows), you need to present another combination of stamps of 63 yens. Putting a 60 yens stamp and a 3 yen stamps very far away doesn’t get you 2 postmarks of different designs (e.g. one fukei-in + one Japanese cancel).

Technically, it’s not wrong to present a great many small value stamps that add up to 63 yens and request a tons of postmarks on the same surface (so long as all postmarks are of the same design), but it can be annoying for the clerk and I was advised not to do this.

Note that the distance of 36mm is only valid for fukei-in. A black Japanese cancel measures 26 mm in diameter, and a kogata-in (小型印, more about this later) measures 32 mm in diameter.

The distance between the stamps affixed can be an important trick for a traditional maximaphilist who tries to comply to every guideline set by FIP, which includes the one that says only one stamp can be fixed on the image side of the card. You can play with the distance – says, placing the main stamp where you want, and the complementary stamp far away to request 2 identical cancels, then once you receive the card, you find some way to remove the complementary stamp and its associated cancel to the back side of the card.

Additional notes about rule #2:

Let me share my written instruction template with you.

こんにちは、リンダ【your name】と申します。カナダ【your country】のコレクターです。

ご郵便局の風景印が欲しいです。押印希望日は MM 月 DD 日です。【Or if any date is OK with you – replace the phrase highlighted in bold with 「どの日付でも大丈夫です」.】

あの日、切手の隣に、風景印をカードの表面の記載の指示に従って押してください。そして、カードを封筒に入って、カナダに送ってください。【if you want them to post directly the card, replace the phrase highlighted in bold with 「カードを直接送ってください」.】

どうもよろしくお願いします。

リンダ
my email
my Canadian phone number with +1

Roughly translated:

Hello, my name is Linda. I am a Canadian collector.

I would like to obtain this post office’s pictorial cancel. The date of cancellation I want is [date-month]. [or ‘Any date of cancellation is OK’.]

On that day, please apply the pictorial cancel next to the stamp by fellowing the written instruction on the card’s surface. Once done, please put the card into the envelope I prepared and mail it to Canada [or ‘please post the card directly’].

Thank you very much,
Linda

Be careful if you use some kanji that (you think) means ‘next to’ but in Japanese that has a direction: If you use 「横」, the postmark will be applied on the horizontal direction, either on the left or the right side of the stamp. If you use「縦」, it will be applied on the vertical direction, either on the top or at the bottom of the stamp. 「隣」which means ‘in the neighbourhood of’ is a better word to use, but I strongly recommend that you attach a post-it note on the item with a drawing, clearly stating where you want the postmark to be placed. For example:

My note indicates that the postmark should be applied to the lower left corner of the stamp.

If I request the postmark on a particular day, I usually add a phrase explaining the significance of that day to reinforce the clerk’s impression, but this is not necessary.

I also tend to include a picture (found online) of the fukei-in in my instruction, like this:

If on the outer envelope you sent to the post office you only wrote the name of the post office (XXX郵便局), chances are some of the staff would think that the mail is intended for someone else who will come this post office to pick it up but you forgot to write the recipient’s name, and they would not dare opening it to see what’s inside. If they have no way of contacting you by phone, they will keep the mail unopened until the delay for pick up passes, then return the mail back to you.

This has happened to me a few times while I was travelling in Japan. I had a Japanese phone number but no fixed Japanese address, so on the backside of the envelopes I sent to Japanese post offices to request fukei-in, I usually inscribed my Japanese phone number. And I did get a few phone calls from some of those post offices trying to clarify who the recipient of my mail was and if they were allowed to open it. Although it’s long to write, it’s best to address clearly your envelope to the post office staff:

• XXX郵便局（風景印押印依頼在中） ＝ (request of pictorial postmark therein)
• XXX郵便局 風景印押印担当あて ＝ (to the person in charge of the pictorial postmark)

Additional notes

If you prepare a return envelope, and you want it to be postmarked with fukei-in, you better state somewhere something like「この封筒も風景印も押してください」(Please also apply the fukei-in on this envelope). If you don’t state it, half of the time your envelope will be postmarked with only the regular black circular cancel with Roman alphabet inscription (called ‘欧文印’, or I call it ‘Western cancel’) that is the standard cancel applied to all international lettermails.