'Ukiyo-e Series 6' - Japan 2017

Japanese Ukiyo-e covers from Kobe, Tokyo, and Yokohama, Japan to New York, USA, posted on Sep 6th with special postmarks and day postmarks. Thank you Masako, Ye, Kouichi, Mitsuhiko, and Ban-No!

Ukiyo-e (浮世絵) is one of my favorite oriental art genre. Popular from 17th - 19th century, it often depicts female beauties, landscape, flora, fauna, and sometimes erotic themes. Compared with Chinese paintings, Ukiyo-e style is more explicit, decorative, and rich in color, thus much more attractive to western artists.

This sheet is the 6th (I hope it never ends) in a series of Ukiyo-e issued by Japan Post. It showcases female beauty paintings/wood block prints by various artists (菊川英山, 喜多川歌麿, 鳥文斎栄之) on one side, and landscape painting/wood block prints by (歌川広重) on the other. It is simply a beauty.

Note that on the last cover, the US Post Office just cannot help adding their personal touch to the otherwise perfect cover.

'World Heritage the Third Series 10' - Japan, 2017

World Heritage the Third Series 10 - "The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement" (The National Museum of Western Art), posted from Kobe and Tokyo, Japan to New York, USA on Jul 14th, 2017, with first day special and day postmarks. Thank you, Ye, Ban-no, and Kouichi!

The stamp set includes the following artworks

• "The Thinker (Enlarged)" by Auguste Rodin
• "Roses" by Vincent van Gogh
• "Boy in Flowers (Jacques Hoschede)" by Edouard Manet
• "The Port of Saint-Tropez" by Paul Signac
• "Water Lilies" by Claude Monet

Note how my local post office 'sign' my registered covers? I've complained multiple times to no avail. They still mark my registered covers to this day and there's nothing I can do about it. The postal clerks at the front desk are actually quite amenable to philatelic requests but whoever controls the destiny of registered covers just loves his/her signature a little too much. 

'Japanese Paintings' - Japan, 2017

Japanese paintings issue from Kobe and Yokohama, Japan to New York, USA, posted on Jun 7th, 2017, the first day of issue. Thank you Kouichi and Masako!

Year 2017 has seen several painting related stamps issued by the Japan Post, including the Philately Week, World Heritage, Ukiyo-e Series 6, and International Letter-Writing Week. Stamps in this issue come out smaller than I thought but nevertheless a nice set.

'Iris Screen, Philately Week' - Japan, 2017

Japan Philately Week 2017 covers from Yokohama and Tokyo, Japan to New York, US, posted on Apr 20, 2017. Thank you Masako and Ban-No.

This year, the Philately Week stamps feature a folding screen 'Iris Screens' by Edo period painter Ogata Korin (1658 - 1716). A similar stamp was issued in 1970 to commemorate the Expo '70 (日本万国博覧会) held in Osaka.