Postal Stationery of South East Asia under Japanese Occupation

by Masayoshi Tsuchiya FRPSL

A review by Susan McEwen.

Masayoshi Tsuchiya is a well known specialist on the Japanese Occupation of South East Asia (1942-1945) and this book features 128 pages selected from his Gold Medal winning collection of Postal Stationery of the Occupation.

It covers Hong Kong, Burma, Malaya, North Borneo, Thailand-Burma Railway, the Andaman Islands, Java, Dutch East Indies and the Philippines.

A wide range is covered with great rarities from each area illustrated. In each Territory the Japanese occupiers started by overprinting Stationery which they found in Government or Post Office stores, then some stationery from Japan was authorised for use and later Japanese stationery was produced, printed in Batavia.

The album pages are well presented and written up in Japanese, but fortunately full translations into English are provided at the back of the book. The author and publisher have recognised that some of us are interested in this collecting area without being able to read Japanese. The Foreword is by the Revd David Hubbard, another well known and well respected specialist in this area.

The maps inside the front and back covers identify the Army and Navy Administration areas of the Occupied territories, a useful addition.

Most of the items shown are used, and would happily live in fine Postal History collections of this era. Your reviewer was particularly pleased to see the preponderance of genuine commercially used items, and the lack of contrived usages.

Beautifully produced, hard bound with a colour dust-jacket, this book raises Postal Stationery up to the level of other Gold Medal collections, and is recommended to all who are interested in the Japanese Occupation of any or all of these territories

Published by the Japan Philatelic Society Foundation. A4 Hard back with d/j 176 pages, full colour.
ISBN 978-4-88963-760-1

How to Order

P&P: ¥6,300 + postage

Orders can be sent to the following address or via email:

Japan Philatelic Society Foundation
1-4-23 Mejiro, Toshima-ku,
Tokyo 171-0031
Japan