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Old Jun 22, 2007 | 5:49 am
  #6  
LapLap
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I'm sorry you'll be missing out this time.

If you don't mind I'd like to share one of my own 'hobbies whilst in Japan' in case it comes in useful for your next visit. It was a source of absolute delight for my mother on her trip there.

:-:STAMP RALLY:-:
Originally Posted by LapLap
Can I strongly urge anybody going to Japan with children to get them a good notebook with plain paper - it will need to be at least A5 size.

At almost every location there will be, somewhere, a rubber stamp and inkpad for you to take a souvenir impression. Even train and subway stations have them (the one at Ryogoku is especially nice!). Stamps are free. It's often quite fun to locate them.
More info and examples here:
http://www.dotpattern.com/artwerk/ru...er-stamps.html
and here:
http://www.dotpattern.com/artwerk/ru...r-stamps2.html

Ask for "Stamp Rally" (Sutampo Rarri) and show your book (hopefully with some already in there) if you need help finding them.

As an example, they are dotted all around the Nihon Minka En and are in little houses like this one: http://www.pref.nara.jp/narakoen/sr-2.JPG

Stamp Rallies are part of the culture in Japan and are often used for promotional purposes - here's a photo diary of some children who went on a special event train journey themed on Anpan Man - a popular cartoon character. It shows the stamps they collected in their commemorative booklets.
http://ww82.tiki.ne.jp/~mchome/stamp...003_5_17_3.htm
(makes you feel sorry for any commuters caught on one of these whilst nursing a hangover - no wonder one of the stations is called Gomen)

Of course, you don't have to be a child to collect the stamps. There are some truly gorgeous ones around (my favourite is one from Tsukiji tourist information office). Temples have them, all the museums do, sometimes shops have them... you find them in the strangest places.

I first found out about them on my first trip to Tokyo when a couple of German psychiatrists who were staying in the same hostel as I was showed me their own collection - they'd been travelling throughout Japan staying mainly at Temple lodging. The books they'd made up were beautiful.
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