POSTCARD N.43 -  Japan

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 20th October; received on the 4th November
Postcard image: sunset view from Cape Shirepa - Hokkaido
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Google Earth. What a tremendous tool. I Can't read a word (or is it an ideogram...) of Japanese, but I can pretty well compare them, and when faced with a sunset somewhere in Japan, I put on my best detective hat and started by the legend on the back of the card to try to grasp where in the world's end the sun was setting (something that it seems also happens in the land of the rising sun....oh, the irony....😀).

Hokkaido. First clue came from the text on the card itself, written by a postcrosser that chose not to mention  his name, but whom I thank for the card and nice stamps on it: Arigato (this being a word that immediately strikes a connection with my own mother tongue, since it derives from the Portuguese "Obrigado", that means just the same).

Google Earth then came to the rescue and in a matter of minutes I had not only found the name of the area/city indicated in the very tiny map on the back of the card - Kushiro - but also, and most importantly,  the  place  where  the  shot of the sunset  had been taken - Cape Shirepa or 尻羽岬.

Sunsets...whenever I see a picture of a sunset, Richard Harris' immortal words from "Slides" come to my mind: "sunset; another sunset... I know it looks indistinguishable from the last, but I remember the difference...."

Stamps

The 50 yen Stamp is a single stamp emission issued on 29NOV1980 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Japanese Diet, the country's legislative body comprising two chambers: the House of representatives and the House of Councillors. The image of the stamp is that of the upper façade of the National Diet Building, in Tokyo being overflown by a flock of doves, probably symbolising peace.

The 20 Yen stamp with the image of a Silka deer (Cervus Nippon) was issued  on 02FEB2015 as part of a large definitive set dedicated to fauna and flora.

The postmark indicates that the card was mailed from the small island of Okushiri, facing the southwest tip of the island of Hokkaido.