International Letter Writing Week Issued on October 6, 2000 (Heisei 12)
In October 2000, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued International Letter Writing Week stamps. International Penpal Week is an international week that contributes to world peace through mutual understanding through correspondence. It is set every year for one week from October 9th, the date of formation of the Univ- ersal Postal Union (UPU). The stamps are designed by Hiroshige Ando's "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido" by Okabe, Maisaka, and Okazaki in the upper row (Internat- ional Letter Character Week).