Toyosu Fish Market, Tokyo Japan

This is the market where the famous tuna auctions are held. Moved in 2018 from the Tsukiji market in the center of Tokyo. The postmark shows an aerial view of the market area with a tuna and some vegetables in the foreground. Not the best landscape postmark I've seen from Japan.  This was postmarked in the post office at the Toyosu market. The stamp is a 2021 110 yen "letter writing week" stamp. 

Flowers of Hospitality FDCs, Japan

"Flowers of Hospitality" is a long running annual Japanese stamp series. The 2023 issue consists of 10 different self-adhesive stamps across 2 sheets. This FDC from Osaka has carnation stamps on it:

And this FDC from Yokohama has carnations and roses:

Saidaiji Okayama, Japan

Another one from Okayama this month. This time sent from the Saidaiji post office in the Higashi Ward. On the left from 2009, an image of a carved phoenix & chrysanthemum bomboniere. It is one of a set issued to commemorate the golden wedding anniversary of the Emporer and Empress of Japan. On the right from 2003 is Byakko: the white tiger. The stamp is from a set showing wall paintings from Kitora Tomb in Asuka.

 

Digby, Nova Scotia

Nice postmark from the town of Digby on the south-western shore of Nova Scotia. Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis spent her life in and around Digby and the cats on this postmark are taken from her 1955 painting "Three Black Cats".

Royal Military College, Australia

A prepaid envelope from 1986 commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Australia Royal Military College. The 33c stamp that is postmarked with a FD postmark dated 27 June 1986 is printed on the envelope. It would be more enjoyable if the other stamps had been postmarked but there's something else I don't like about it. Three of the four stamps on this envelope appear to be have been previously used. They were removed from another envelope and glued to this one. 

I don't know why it bothers me. The cover looks fine. It's interesting. But somehow it just doesn't seem right. If you have to reuse stamps, do it to mail a phone bill or a Christmas card. Please avoid doing it on mail you're sending to a stamp collector.

Disney 100th Anniversary FDC, Germany

A pair of stamps from Germany issued March 1st commemorating the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company on October 16th, 2023. The stamp on the left is from a gummed pane of 10 and the stamp on the right is from a self-adhesive pane of 10. Each has it's own FD postmark.

Ilulissat, Greenland

Ilulissat is a town on the west Greenland coast, 250km north of the Arctic Circle. It sits at the mouth of the UNESCO recognized Ilulissat Icefjord where the Ilulissat glacier sheds massive icebergs into Disco Bay. It is the most visited tourist destination in Greenland.

This cover got beaten up a bit along the way. Suffered some water damage somewhere. The two stamps on the right are the third issue (2022) in the Greenlandic Feature Films stamp series. This time the stamps feature the Greenlandic films Nuummioq and Inuk. And on the left is a Queen Margrethe definitive from 2013.

Norwegian Minerals

From the town of Egersund, south of Stavanger. Mineral stamps from 1998. Silver on the left and cobaltite on the right. And a 1970's rock art definitive stamp on the far left. I received the "mountains and minerals" postcard below on the same day.

Åland Tattoo Art

The three 2006 booklet stamps on the right are photos of actual tattoos on people from Åland. And the stamp on the left from 2005 shows a Fritz von Dardel illustration of tourists visiting the ruins of Bomarsund fortress.

Dumont d'Urville Station in Terre Adélie

The IPEV (French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor) project ECOPHY-ANTAVIA is a long running project to monitor the viability of penguin populations in the sub-antarctic and antarctic regions and  evaluate their ability to adapt to changes in the environment. Non-invasive methods of observation are preferred. 

I should start using more souvenir sheets on covers I send down there. This one came back in good shape. There are a couple of well-applied expedition handstamps on the back of the envelope as well.

Year of the Rabbit, North Pole Alaska

Some Lunar New Year stamps and a couple of additional ounce "brush rabbit" stamps. It took no effort to figure out where this was postmarked. North Pole Alaska. Where it's Christmas every day of the year.

Christmas from Milan

With a roll-on postmark from the mail sorting facility in Milan's northern district of Roserio. The stamps are 2022 Christmas issues. 

Okayama, Japan

From the city of Okayama in Japan's Chūgoku region in the west of Japan. The stamp on the left is from a sheet issued in 2001 for the Japanese International stamp exhibition "Philanippon" held in August of 2001. The sheet had 10 stamps showing famous woodblock prints by several Edo period artists. The print on this particular stamp was by Tōshūsai Sharaku and is titled "The actor Segawa Kikujurō III as Oshizu, Wife of Tanabe". The other stamp is a 2023 spring greetings stamp.

A Postcard from Barbados

The fishing village of Bathsheba on the east coast of Barbados. A postcard from my mother who was visiting Barbados earlier this year. She dropped it off at a mailbox outside the gift shop where she bought it and it was postmarked a very short distance away at the Worthing post office in Bridgetown.

It took a while for this to get to me and I think I can see why. Along with the Worthing postmark is a spray-on Royal Mail "British Heart Foundation" postmark from Birmingham. So it didn't exactly follow a direct path from the Caribbean to Canada. The stamp from 2009 shows a Landship dance performance during the Crop Over festival. Landship is a cultural organization in Barbados and Crop Over is a large annual celebration held at the end of the sugar cane harvest.