Today in Postal History

  

Japan to United States
May 18, 1882

This UPU postal card was sent from Hiogo.
Hiogo adjoins Kobe about km west of Osaka.
Note the French Empire do Japon at the bottom of the indicia.
French was the official language of the UPU (and probably,
one must admit, the language of international communication at that time).
There is a single CDS for Hiogo.
The killer appears to be a negative pi  or K.

The routing took the cover to Yokohama - the departure port for trans Pacific shipping.
It received a small Yokohama transit CDS on May 24.*

Note that all the cancels are in western characters to meet the UPU requirement.

There are no transit marks for San Francisco or Seattle which are normally expected.
There is a faint circle at the left of the card but it may be nothing more than an offset.

The destination was Foxboro, Massachusetts.
Foxboro is between Boston, Massachusetts (37 km), and Providence, Rhode Island (27 km).

  The text of the message is easy to read but boring.
It deals mainly in the trivia of an expatriate missionary.

            Kobe, May 18, 1882
Only a week between mails and
the first part of the time taken up
with mission meeting.  After that
we went up to Kioto for a two days
visit.  I returned this morning.
Nell waited to come down with  Mrs.
Joseph Cook this afternoon.  We
hope to have a meeting of the mission
with Mr. Cook this evening and
within a day or two hope to hear
one or more lectures from him.
which ought to be a treat after four
years without hearing a lecture.
Traveling seems to agree with him
for he has grown larger than he
used to be or perhaps he only appears
larger in comparison with the Japanese,
I spent yesterday showing Mrs. C. about
Kioto.  Took dinner yesterday at the Breenes'
They wished to be remembered to you.
                                  In haste,
                                     Olsten

*Thanks to Bill Burch for correcting a couple of misreads in the message.
Thanks, too, to David Frick for letting me know about
my error in attributing the Yokohama cancel to Osaka.

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