Seizing on the 50th anniversary of the return of Okinawa to Japan, the local branch of Japan Post Co. will put 246 kinds of Ryukyu Islands postage stamps on public display for the first time this summer.
Japan’s traditional “hikyaku” courier service network, which spanned from Yezo (present-day Hokkaido) in the north to Kyushu in the south, steadily developed during the decades of peace under the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867).