Czech Republic

September 20, 2016

This card came from the Czech Republic and was sent by Jana.  She wrote quite a long message on the back of the card, and used a couple of great stamps on it too, so I thought I'd share this card with you now.

Jana wrote,

"Hello, my name is Jana.  I live in Zlin (regional capital of southeast Moravia) in Czech Republic.  There is functionalist architecture in Zlin. The most building is the Bata skyscraper.  It has only 17 floors, but it was second tallest building in Europe in 1938.
I forties and I work as a clerk at the county office. I married and I have 2 daughters (16, 13). My favorite movie is 'Under the Tuscan Sun'. I wish you all the best, Jana
Greetings from my younger daughter Marketa."

I have seen the stamp on the left before, the one on the right is new to me.  

Japan - Books

September 20, 2016

This lovely card with a cool postal cancellation and stamp came from Japan.  It was sent with a friendly note from Yoshizu.

She wrote,

"From Yoshizu

Hello, I live in Kobe which is a port town.

I like reading and watching Japanese costume drama on TV.

Happy Postcrossing."

I like this series of cards!

This is a very cool cancellation mark.  It shows one of the same characters as on on the stamp.  Lovely isn't it?  It says something like "Greetings from Post-Bear and Friends".  Post-Bear is the mailman bear in the middle of the cancellation mark.

Thank you Yoshizu!

Germany - Movie Card

September 17, 2016

This wonderful James Bond card came from Germany and was sent by Marie-Luise.  She wrote a little about herself and her favourite movie on the back of the card, so I was pleased!

She wrote,

"Hello, greetings from Bitburg/Germany.  I am Marie-Luise and I live here my whole life.  I love to travel - with my car or bus - mostly in Europe.  This year I've been to France/Brittany and Normandy and Channel Island, Jersey.  My favourite movie is "The Bridges of Madison County" with Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep (1995).

Best Wishes --Marie Luise"

One of my favourite James Bond films!  Yay!

Very interesting stamps, I haven't seen these ones before.

Finland

September 16, 2016

When I took a look at this card to write my blog entry, I was rather amazed.  This card only took 4 days to come all the way from Finland to my apartment.  That's fast!  

Harriet sent this card with a friendly message on the back and some gorgeous stamps too. 

She wrote,

"Hello,

We have a beautiful autumn right now, it's raining but it's quite warm.  The card is a typical Finnish Autumn card and I hope you like it.  Japan, it is so far away from here..

Best Wishes

Harriet"

Look at those gorgeous pansies.  I adore pansies....

Thank you for a lovely card Harriet!

Fall Colours

September 24, 2016

For this Blog Party Link-Up, the theme is "Fall Colours".

I have decided to show a couple of the themed mailbox Gotochi cards from Japan.  Every season a new card appears with new artwork.  I always look forward to these interesting little cards.

Japan is always very proud of having four distinct seasons!

 This is the card from 2014.  My husband tells me that mushrooms and some types of dragonflies are thought of as Autumn items.

 

This is the card from 2015 which features a squirrel with an acorn.  It's rather sweet!

This is the Autumn card for 2016, which to be completely honest, I haven't bought yet. (Edited October 14, 2016 to say, I have this card now!) The animal on the front of this is a tanuki, or raccoon dog. Tanuki are quite prominent in Japanese folklore. You can read more about them on Wikipedia.  

Korea - Movie Card

September 15, 2016

This card came to me from South Korea recently.  It has a great cancellation mark and stamp on the back, and the front is a movie, so I love it.  The movie wasn't great, BUT it has the distinction of being the first movie that I saw after I moved to Japan!  I wanted to see it, so on a Sunday night, I took myself along to the terrible old cinema that was in Tsuruoka and very carefully went through the process of buying a ticket and seeing the show.

I enjoyed recapturing the memory of that night with this card, so it was lovely of Jungyesol to send it to me!  She wrote a great note on the back too.

"Greetings from Korea! I'm Jungyesol.  I went on a journey ('Muchangpo' beach) with my family!  Today, the weather is cool.  This summer was so hot!! I feel best in cool weather.  Take care and don't catch a [?possibly cold].  I'm susceptible to [illegible] when the weather changes.  Have a nice day.  BYE-BYE"

The Devil's Own

 Look at that cool postal mark.  It's so neat.  I haven't seen the bird stamp before either.

Netherlands - Tea

September 12, 2016

This tiny little card came from Louise in the Netherlands.  She wrote a friendly little note on the back of the card too.

She wrote,
"Dear friend!
Today the greetings come from Nymegen, the Netherlands.  I live here with my husband, two daughters (18 and 23) and our rabbit Hups.  My hobby is painting all kinds of subjects.  Perhaps you can visit my site: www.louisepeeters.com and let me know what you think of it.  I'm curious of it...

I wish you lots of postcards in your mailbox!

Een hele fijne dag!
     'Have a very nice day!'

Lovely greetings, Louise"

The card is very small, about 8.5 cm by 11.5 cm!

I like the bicycle and I also like the way the cancellation mark seems to have warped somehow!

Hana - Blog Link Up of Flowers

September 17, 2016

Posting has been light this week for a couple of reasons.  I haven't had that many cards to post on this blog lately and I've been busy celebrating my anniversaries.  Here in Japan I have two anniversaries, one from the official day when we registered our marriage at City Hall, and the other when I got to wear the big white pouffy dress in front of a bunch of people I didn't know!

But you came here for the flowers.  At first,  I thought....Ack!  I don't really collect flower cards.  I do collect Gotochi cards however, and I thought I would focus on a couple that I have that have flowers on them.  Gotochi Cards are still very popular in Japan and from looking at Postcrossing's profiles, sought after in other places too.

Also, for the first time, I'm joining a blog party link up.  Maria at Connections to the World is hosting a link-up where some postcard bloggers will post cards that they think are special enough to show off. Please feel free to visit her blog and check out the other bloggers and what they present.

The Cards....

This lovely card of Lilacs was released in 2013 to show off Hokkaido, the big northern island of Japan.  Every year in Sapporo, the capital city, there is a lilac festival.  Sadly, when I lived nearby, I didn't attend the festival.   I think I did a swap for this card with another Postcrosser in Japan.

This card shows Yamagata's own Hanagasa Festival.  In this festival people dance while wearing hats with artificial safflowers on them.  I'm afraid I haven't ever attended the Hanagasa Festival, but I have seen a little of the dancing on TV.  Apparently, this is one of the largest festivals in Tohoku, the north part of Honshu, or main island.  There's an informative webpage here.

I live in Yamagata Prefecture so I am slightly extending the definition of flower to include this card!  It is one of my favourite Gotochi cards because it is pretty and fun.

And, in case you didn't know, "花" or  hana is the Japanese word for flowers.

Germany

September 12, 2016

This card arrived from Germany with a lovely friendly note on the back.  It also has some decorations and stickers on the back of the card.  I hardly ever decorate the backs of my postcards.  I like to write a lot and the more stickers are on the back, the less space I have!  What about you?  Do you have space for decorations or are you wordy like me?

Hannah wrote,
"Hello, My name is Hannah and I live in Wuppestal.  Here we have the unique suspension railway, which was built in 1901. On the stamps you can see a view of a famous German lake (Chiemsee).

I like to travel and in November I am going to Canada.  Have a nice day.  Habe einen Schonen Tag.  Best wishes from Germany.  Hannah"

This is quite an interesting double barrelled stamp.  I've seen a few like this in Japan but I don't usually send them out together. I like it!

France - Food

September 6, 2016

Annie sent this interesting card from France to me. Her note was friendly so I was quite pleased with it.

She wrote,
"Hello.  I read you love food, so I send you a postcard about a recipe of pork.  I'm sorry, I've not the details, it's just to look at.  Happy Postcrossing, Annie"

Tripe Fertoise Skewers

This is a very cool stamp, it shows an amethyst, which coincidentally is my birthstone!

Spain

September 5, 2016

Nerea sent this beautiful view to me with an interesting note on the back. It's very friendly and that's a good thing!

She wrote,

"Hello!  Greetings from Spain.  I found your profile very interesting, I've been so obsessed with Japan for years.
My name is Nerea, I'm 19 years old and I'm a law student.  I've just started with postcrossing and I'm loving it so far.
Best wishes,
Nerea"

Aerial view.

This is an interesting stamp.  I also included most of the postal cancellation marks too as they are quite cool too.

Russia - Tea

August 25, 2016


This delicious-looking tea showed up in my mailbox recently.  It came from Timoha in Russia, who wrote an interesting note on the back of their card.

Timoha wrote,

"Hello! I'm Timoha from Russia.  I live in Vologela City. It's on the North-West of our country.  I work with medical equipment for children in school.  My favourite movie is "Entrance Through the Window." It's Russian film.  I hope you will like my postcard.  Have a good day! Happy Postcrossing.  Timoha.  Vologela.  Russia."

Tea with lemon.

These stamps are beautiful.  I have seen the merry-go-round one before, but not the one on the left.  

Germany - Black and White Card

August 23, 2016

This card came to me from Germany.  Paula wrote a note on the back that was almost rude, but I think it is probably more to do with the differences between languages than an attempt to be rude.  Sometimes people who don't speak or write a language well make loads of mistakes...I should know.  My Japanese is still very bad, and that's what this card is about.

Paula wrote,

"Hey, My name is Paula. I am really surprised that you do not speak Japanese even though you live there 19 years.  I always think that nobody speaks English in Japan.  Greetings from Germany & Happy Postcrossing."

Batman and Robin

Moselschleife

Thailand - Food

August 22, 2016

This delicious looking card came to me from Tai from Thailand.  She wrote a little about the card and told me her favourite movie...and it's a good one!  Please read on.

She wrote,
"Sa/wad/dee สวัสดี = Hi
Greetings from Thailand

My name is Tai.  The movie I love most is Shawshank Redemption.

This postcard you can see Thai food: sticky rice and roast chicken.  So yummy, let's try

Happy postcrossing  
Tai"

Thailand International Food Festival

Moldova

August 22, 2016

I received this lovely card from Irina recently.  She wrote a lovely green message on the back of her card and talked about movies so I was very happy indeed.

She wrote,

"Hello!  Nice to meet you!  If I think about my favorite movies, then it would be adventure [I believe she means Avengers] (the movies from the Marvel universe 😀), and animated movies. I have rewatched 'Wall-E', I just love it, so much kindness and good emotions.  Best wishes, Irina"

Rock Monastery

 Lovely flower and plant stamps.  Gorgeous!