japanese stamps!

stamps are a big deal in japan. we all know about hanko stamps, right? the stamp that is your signature? (both the wonderful clerk and his supervisor at yodobashi camera used their hanko stamps on the official duty free document that we needed to present at narita. i think perhaps the immigration officials at narita also used hanko but i don't recall. sorry.) 

did you know that you can collect stamps from PLACES in japan?  this might have started with eki stamps which are stamps from train stations (i think (it might refer to all tourism stamps? i don't really know, apologies.)) but WOW stamps are EVERYWHERE that people visit! i came across my first one at tokyo tower!

this is not a very good impression. i was crazy jet lagged and ha, my hands always shake badly on my first day after a long flight but you can see how detailed the stamp is. my tokyo tower is on a piece of paper that i took from the stack on the table that is there for that purpose. 

at hama-riku gardens though, i wised up! THE BROCHURES HAVE PLACES FOR STAMPING ON THE BACK!! 

it is a GORGEOUS stamp that depicts the floating tea house which is the major attraction of the park. leff and i are debating who gets to put this stamp in their notebook. haha haaa :/ (it might be me. lol)

at kyu shiba-riku i wised up EVEN MORE though and got TWO stamps, one on the pamphlet for leff and one in my notebook. (lots of people have specialized notebooks for stamps. i might get one when we go back!)

i love how all the stamps show both the most important thing at that location and the date visited. these souvenirs are so thoughtful. and beautiful. i want to collect more!!

(fyi:  most tourism stamps are located near where you pay admission. i'm not sure how to find them at train stations yet but the eki stamps link above is very informative!)

my last stamp from japan just made me sad though.

i mean, YAY NEW PASSPORT STAMP but boooooooooooooo i DID NOT want to leave. why did we leave? LET'S GO BACK NOW I NEED MORE STAMPS!!