The Postal History of ICAO

Japan : Admission to the United Nations

Issue date: 08/03/1957

Official emblem of the United Nations (UN) surrounded by the initials of ten UN Agencies (including ICAO at the top right): ILO, FAO, UNESCO, ICAO, IBRD, IMF, WHO, UPU, ITU, WMO. Deep purplish red and blue.

Block of four stamps.

Full sheet of 20 stamps.

Maximum card showing the United Nations flag.

First Day Covers.

With additional cancel at Tokyo.

With cancel at Tokyo. “Printed Matter” added.

First Day Covers showing the UN building in New York.

Insert of the above cover.

Cancel at ??OOKA.

Insert of the above cover.

First Day Cover with hand-drawn cachet (Un emblem).

First Day Covers showing the raising of Japan’s flag in the presence of (from left to right): Mrs Kase, Mr Shigemitsu, his daughter and Mr Sato.

With additional cancel at Kumamototsuboi.

Special insert or philatelic notice of the above covers.

Background: Japan was admitted to the UN on 18 December 1956.

The postmark on the above first day covers shows: 32. 3. 8. In 1873, as part of Japan's Meiji period modernization, a calendar based on the solar Gregorian calendar was introduced. While the Christian way of numbering years is commonly used in Japan today, a parallel numbering system was also frequently applied for years according to the reigns of emperors. The year 1957, which happened to be the 32^nd year of reign of the emperor Hirohito, also known as Emperor Shōwa (his reign started in 1926 as Shōwa 1), was called Shōwa 32. So the postmark 32.3.8 corresponds to 8 March 1957.