Japan Post to begin selling customized photo stamps in September
Japan Post said Monday it will start selling customized photo stamps Sept. 1 to try to promote postal mail amid a steady rise in e-mail traffic.
Post offices across Japan will accept a 4 centimeter-square printed photo and use it in making stamps. One stamp sheet, consisting of 10 stamps costing 80 yen each, will cost 1,200 yen, Japan Post said.
In a promotional event for the new service held at a Tokyo hotel, actress Ryoko Yonekura asked people to write more letters, saying, “Handwritten letters are more personal.”
Japan Post expects the sales of customized photo stamps to reach 1.5 million sheets, or 1.8 billion yen worth, this fiscal year.
Japan Post issued a stamp featuring an original photo attached below an ordinary stamp in April 2003. But it has decided to print personal photos as stamps after receiving requests for them.
