Stamp Rally Guide

Advice for the hunt

• Essential phrases: if a stamp isn't out in the open, ask 「記念スタンプはありますか？」 (Do you have a commemorative stamp?) or 「駅スタンプはどこですか？」 (Where is the station stamp?).
• Carry a pocket ink pad: heavily visited tourist spots or remote stations can run dry. A small black or vermillion pad (from Loft, Hands, or Daiso) ensures crisp impressions anywhere.
• Check behind the desk: at smaller railway stations, museum desks, and post offices, stamps are often kept behind the counter — staff are always happy to pull it out when asked.
• Operating hours matter: castle gates, museum desks, observation decks, and department stores close with the facility (typically 17:00 to 20:00) — unlike station ticket gates.
• Getting a postal Fūkeiin: affix a ¥85+ postage stamp to your notebook or postcard and ask the clerk: 「風景印を押してください」.

The kit

A stamp book (~¥650 at any big bookstore), and use the loose paper many stamp points keep next to them. Pads dry out — press firmly and hold; don't rock the stamp or it smears. Leave the first page or two blank — some of the best stamps turn up late.

In Japan, rubber souvenir stamps come in two main flavors: Eki stamps (駅スタンプ) at railway stations, and Kinen stamps (記念スタンプ) across landmarks, observation towers, department stores, castles, museums, and pop-culture hubs.

• Railway & subway stations — look near ticket gates, the station master's office, or the tourist information center. If it's not out on the stamp table, ask the gate staff — they often keep it right behind the desk.
• Observation decks & towers — Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo Tower, Umeda Sky Building, and Kyoto Tower all feature dedicated observation stamps (and belong to the All-Japan Tower Federation). Skytree even has its own observation post box on Floor 345.
• Historic castles & fortresses — castles have official free rubber stamps from the Japan 100 Famous Castles (日本100名城) rally (like Nijō, Osaka, and Hikone Castle), as well as collectible calligraphy/crest seals called 御城印 (Gojōin) sold at ticket booths for ¥300–500.
• Stationery & department stores — Ginza Itoya features a 2nd-floor 'Write & Post' custom stamp station and multi-color layered stamp rallies (kasane-oshi). Loft, Hands, and Tokyo Station Character Street shops also keep custom character and store stamps.
• Pop culture & theme parks — Pokémon Centers offer promotional stamps and exclusive birthday stamps (with ID). Universal Studios Japan, Ghibli Museum, and Nintendo stores feature distinct visitor stamps.
• Scenic postmarks (風景印 · Fūkeiin) — Japan Post offices carry official scenic postmarks depicting local scenery and landmarks. Hand a postcard or notebook with a ¥85+ stamp to any postal clerk and ask for a 'fūkeiin' for a unique postal keepsake.

What to search for: "eki stamp book", or in Japanese スタンプ帳 (stamp-chō) or 駅スタンプ帳 (eki stamp-chō). 記念スタンプ帳 works too. Don't search 御朱印帳 — that's the shrine-seal book, a different thing with much thicker accordion-folded paper.

Size: postcard size is the tradition. A5 is the safer buy.

The classic railway stamp books were はがきサイズ — postcard, about 100 × 148 mm, which is A6. Both Tobu Railway and Tokyo Metro issued theirs at that size. It's pocketable and it's what the format grew up around. But stamps aren't standardized, and some are considerably bigger than the pad they're meant for — a large one simply won't fit on an A6 page. If you'd rather never be caught short, buy A5 (148 × 210 mm). It's twice the page for a little more bulk, and it also gives room to write where and when beside each stamp. (A6/postcard size is documented; the 'stamps vary' point is observation, not a published standard.)

Paper: thicker than copier paper, or it will show through.

Station stamp pads are water-based and often over-inked from heavy use, so bleed-through (裏写り) is the standard complaint. Ordinary copier paper is about 70–80 gsm and will ghost onto the next page. Aim for roughly 110–160 gsm — sketchbook or cartridge weight. Much above 200 gsm and the book gets fat and stops closing flat.

Experienced collectors leave alternate pages blank rather than fight it — you lose half the book but never ruin a stamp. Worth doing on the first few until you learn how wet the pads run. Get white or cream paper: one long-running Japanese stamp-book recommendation specifically warns off a yellow-green stock because it wrecks how the stamps look afterwards, especially scanned.

Buying & DIY

Any large Japanese bookshop or stationer sells them for around ¥650 — Loft, Hands and Kinokuniya all carry them, and they're cheap enough to buy a second as a spare. Plenty of station shops sell line-specific ones too, which make decent souvenirs in their own right.

Making your own is entirely reasonable and some collectors prefer it — one well-known Japanese stamp blogger just uses a plain A6 memo pad. If you're binding something: unlined, white, 110–160 gsm, A5 or A6, and something that opens flat. A flat-opening book matters more than people expect, because you press down hard on a stamp and a curved page smears it.

Sources: Japanese stamp-book recommendations (船木屋) · Travel Stamp Book — nationwide stamp catalogue

One thing worth knowing: goshuin (御朱印) — the hand-brushed seals at shrines and temples — are a different tradition. They're written for you by hand, usually cost ¥300–500, and by convention go in their own dedicated book (goshuinchō), not mixed in with station stamps. Offering a general stamp booklet at a goshuin desk is a common tourist misstep. If you want those too, buy a goshuinchō at the first big shrine — they make lovely souvenirs in their own right. Many shrines ALSO have a free self-serve stamp near the entrance, which is fair game for the booklet.

Treat that as widely-observed etiquette rather than a posted rule — it's the convention, and following it will never be wrong.