Have Postage Will Travel...: Aidan - Flat Stanley Visits Japan!

Flat Stanley spent an amazing couple of weeks in Japan! Japan is where Aidan's mom grew up, and went to middle and high school.

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south.

Japan is written as 日本 (Nippon or Nihon) in Japanese. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why the country is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands, the four largest being Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Together, these four islands hold about 97 percent of the country's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with more than 126 million people. The capital of Japan is Tokyo, and is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 30 million residents.

The Tama River (多摩川 Tama-gawa) is a major river in Yamanashi, Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures on Honshū, The river flows through Tokyo, on the dividing line between Tokyo and Kanagawa. In the city, its banks are lined with parks and sports fields, making the river a popular picnic spot.

This is the Negishi Horse Racetrack. The track opened in 1862, nine years after Commodore Matthew Perry's "Black Ships" first sailed into Tokyo Bay. Racing continued here until 1943. After the war the Americans turned the area into a golf course. And, today it is one of the largest expanses of green space in Yokohama, and a prime spot for picnics and touch football games.

This is the back side of the Negishi Horse Racetrack.

Mikasa (三笠) is a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s, and was the only ship of her class. The ship served as the flagship of Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō throughout the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.

Less than a week after the end of the war, Mikasa's magazine exploded and sank the ship. She was salvaged and her repairs took over two years to complete. After 1922, Mikasa was decommissioned in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty and preserved as a museum ship at Yokosuka.

Statue of Tōgō Heihachirō

Mikasa Park in Yokosuka

Hachikō (ハチ公) Bronze Statue. Hachiko lived from November 10, 1923 – March 8, 1935. He was an Akita dog born on a farm near the city of Ōdate, Akita Prefecture,remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, even many years after his owner's death.

Yokohama Chinatown (横浜中華街) is the largest Chinatown not only in Japan but also in Asia and it is one of the largest in the world. There are roughly 250 Chinese-owned/themed shops and restaurants scattered throughout the district.

Shibuya (渋谷区) is a city within Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371. The name "Shibuya" is also used to refer to the shopping district which surrounds Shibuya Station, one of Tokyo's busiest railway stations. This area is known as one of the fashion centers of Japan, particularly for young people, and as a major nightlife area.