Japan already uses seal/stamp to sign name, but today we are going to talk about stamps that serve as a collection and are found in various tourist spots and train stations. The famous sutanpu スタンプ are found in various places in Japan, temples, stations, islands, onsen, cities, parks, gardens, stores, konbini, etc.
These stamps are for you to register, collect and remember the place you visited. These stamps are also believed to be a good marketing strategy. They can be of any size, color and shape. Some are stamped in the traditional way, placing the stamp on the cushion and stamping, but there are stamps that look like a giant stapling machine, or that already have the built-in cushion.
There are various types of different stamps, some are released to commemorate a special occasion, sometimes even stamp collecting competitions are held to see who collects the most stamps. The good thing is that these stamps found at tourist spots can replace a souvenir or postcard. In most of these places you find blank sheets, or can buy a postcard and stamp it for your friends.
In most castles and museums you will find one or more stamps of different sizes or shapes. In the Osaka aquarium you can find stamps of marine animals all over the place. Sometimes you find these stamps in the most unlikely places possible.
Eki Sutanpu - Train station stamp
These stamps are usually big and represent a highlight of the place or neighborhood. Since there are over 9,000 train stations in Japan, it is believed that there may be over 5,000 stamps. It's worth noting that these stamps are updated, some have limited editions, etc.
In most stations the stamp is usually at the entrance or in some prominent place, but each station is different from the other. It can be both outside and inside the station, you can ask an officer where the stamp location is saying: "駅スタンプはどこですか - Eki sutanpu wa doko desuka?“. It may happen to be inside a department of the station like Ticket Office. It is good to ask, does this station have no stamp?
I want to collect!
The first place I found a stamp was at Sky Tree, unfortunately I didn't have a notebook, so the first thing you need to do is get a notebook. Despite having several bookstores on site, the notebooks without a line I found are expensive and weird. I found the perfect notebook in a 100 yen store, and then I put a lot of stickers to hide the notebook logo.
I walked to various stations in Tokyo and got various stamps, I had to leave most of the stations, but I didn’t spend because I used the JRPass. I found some stamps nothing to do with local, anime characters, fish, estates, and so on. I made a video of my little stamp notebook and I will leave it for you to watch below:
