Hi, I’m Yuko from Japan. I’ve just started postcrossing recently. I have a pure question, why are Gotochi cards so popular ? In Japan, they are usually you can by at the post office, and I think Japanese rarely buy it except collectors. (The card itself is a little expensive, and even if you send it to Japan, you need to put more stamps than ordinary cards. Also, there are many nice standard size postcards in Japan.)
I’m sorry if I feel bad, but I’m not blaming you, I want people who like it to tell me its charm.
I want people who like it to tell me the charm of it.
I want to know Gotochi card collector why like it.
(By the way, I live in Niigata. Is there anyone looking for a Niigata card? )
I think because most people see it as something that is typically Japanese. I don’t think other countries produce Gotochi cards as part of their culture. Collectors love to have something strange, unique, and exotic.
If Japan made postcards out of rice paper infused with shards from a katana, you’ll see people lining up to collect them.
I love them because they tell you the culture of one prefecture. For example, Aichi’s gotochi cards are ogura toast (as Nagoya is famous for its breakfast), tenmusu (<3), Inuyama Castle, Nagoya Castle, Manekineko (there is a big one in Tokoname), Hitsumabushi, Syachihoko, and others. That is a lot of interesting culture! I love learning about the other prefecture’s own culture.
I see Gotochi cards as a very successfully created collectible object. It has everything needed…
Neutral, but lovely style to please majority
“The reason”, in this case each card representing certain area (and event?). That makes collecting manageable
Limited availability (only postoffices in each area, seasonal cards, limited editions…), and people are aware of that.
Higher price to be worth for the producer, but not too high to make it uninteresting for customers
High quality
Brand = special shape, style, name… People know what to ask and what to look for
And this all makes it feel more special to receive one. It even helps that Postcrossing members wishing for Gotochi cards are not actually buying them themselves so they might be aware these are more expensive but as they are not exchanging them for money themselves, the price matters less.
I don’t collect Gotochi myself, but I did once receive one and I can see why people like them. The style is lovely, quality perfect and there is that special feeling on them when you know there is possibly only one place the card can be bought.
Funnily enough, I recently started to deal with auctions few months ago and I have discovered that Japanese companies are actually very good with creating collectible objects. Classic example being Pokemon cards, but it also goes to handcrafts, video games, and other collectible tokes. Even some food items are in way considered as collectibles. It is really fascinating.
I have recently started collecting Gotochi for many of the reasons above. I have loved many aspects of Japanese ancient culture - haiku, ukiyo-e, kimono, kintsugi. Especially love the elegance of these different art forms and the celebration of certain aspects of life - transitoriness, poignancy, courage and so on. Much of modern Japanese culture seems more to celebrate cuteness, but Gotochi does both. Lots of images of samarai, precision engineering and historic districts.
So far my favorite Gotochi cards have been the chopsticks and the mudskipper - unusual, tells you something about the culture and ancient history (in the case of the mudskipper, perhaps about the evolutionary history of all mammals - that’s pretty ancient history!).
Would love to discuss swaps for Niigata cards - will PM.
I only learned what Gotochi cards are recently and I think they look nice. I’m not going to go out of my way to look for them, but I like the way they represent Japanese culture.
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