Gifts Of Friendship - Us/Japan Joint Issue

Perhaps it's correct. As this is a half sheet, it's conceivable that Japan Post sent a digital art file to the USPS, which then contracted for printing the half sheets in the US for local sale.

I think it would be a far stretch of the imagination to suggest the USPS would print any Japan Post stamps.

The philatelic scuttlebutt is that the No Die Cut press sheets have been bought out and cornered by a large stamp dealer. It is currently listed as not available on the USPS site.

This item will probably have a demand in Japan as well as the US, especially since 2 of the stamps in each pane of 12 are printed only once in each pane. A dealer with large pockets could easily afford the $ 42,000 to scoop up the majority of the printing.

there is no doubt there will be demand from Japan on this issue. The story of the imperf of this issue is just starting. I wouldn't put it past the USPS to reprint this if a major dealer did buy up most of them. Of course it would make more sense to not fill the order if one dealer ordered 70-80% or more of the issue.

Has anyone ordered the Japanese full sheet from the Japanese site?

I just ordered the half-sheet from USPS.

I am trying to figure it out with Google Translate. Also I will try calling Japan Post to see if I can get and English speaking person to help.

I have been told Japan Post has sold out all their sheets. I will contact & attempt to confirm later tonight with Japan Post.
To call from USA:
011 Overseas code from USA
81 Country Code
0570-046-111 Telephone number where English accepted. Japan 14 hours ahead of US Central time. (GMT+9)

UPDATEI just noticed that what looks like the Japan 1/2 sheet is not but rather a version printed for USA??? Not available in Japan even though Japan postage??? The USPS did same thing with the France Joint issue of Myles & Piaf. The French sheet was different than what was available in France, the US version of France stamp was not available in France even though it was a French stamp??? The sheet issued in France was different.
Look above in this section on pg 1 by wt1 of Japan image of their sheet and compare to USPS Japan 1/2 sheet look-alite. Why are they doing this??

2nd UPDATE Japan Post does not allow calls from overseas to customer service???? We rebuilt their country and they don't allow us to telephone their Post Office?

3rd UPDATE Well I ended up having to purchase from a dealer at 12.50 GBP (about $18.34 USD) each or a little over 2 1/2 times face. Amazing how a country's stamps sell out so fast. One would think Japan would have printed more to satisfy the demand from their country as well as US giving the theme of this issue. Same thing with US and the press sheet issue.

^
Well, the Japanese issue only had a print quantity of 1.5M sheets which seems a little low even for a Japanese stamp:
https://translate.google.com/transl...=ja&tl=en&u=https://www.post.japanpost.jp/kitte_hagaki/stamp/tokusyu/2015/h270410_t.html

I received my US / Japan joint issue today.

I think these stamps are absolutely beautiful. I know a lot of members here don't collect modern and self adhesive stuff, but man these are great! I am going to stick these all over my envelopes.

USPS is only selling the half sheets of the Japan version of Gifts of Friendship Trees stamps. I just bought a complete sheet of the Japanese stamps on ebay from a dealer in S. Korea. Still scratching my head why they'd only sell us the half sheets. And I'm wondering if the USPS will print more of the imperf press sheets?

The market will be Japanese and Americans. Chinese hate Japanese since wwii so I doubt here will be many collectors in China. People I know collect full sheets and frame them from stamps to uncut federal reserve notes unless it doesn't come in it.

If the imperf was sold out and not the die-cut, it is mostly speculators trying to corner the market.

These sheets are beautiful to frame though because it's different from everyday releases, layout and color.

Imagine a USA/China joint stamp release, over 1.4Billion potential customers...

I'm not surprised that the USPS failed to gauge the popularity of this issue. javascript:insertsmilie('')Are any of the top brass stamp collectors? Apparently not, or else they'd know that the centenary of Cherry Blossom trees stamps in 2012 was the most popular issue in Linn's stamp poll.

If it turns out that one or two dealers bought out the imperforate press sheets, they violated their own sales policy. They should print more.
They should also sell the FULL sheet of the Japanese version. I bought a set on ebay for $12 from South Korea. Wake up, USPS! Sell more of the stamps we want and you will make more $$$. Anger your customers and they will desert you!javascript:insertsmilie('')

Imagine a USA/China joint stamp release, over 1.4Billion potential customers...

There already was one - the US one was Scott 2867-68 (29c Cranes). I don't recall if the other one was Taiwan or PRC.

PRC