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Stamp exhibition visitors stuck on cartoons, history

Hello Kitty stamps from Japan and stamps with distinctive national colors proved to be the most popular during the second day of the Taipei 2005 and 18th Asian International Stamp Exhibition yesterday.

Visitor numbers showed a marked increase during the weekend of the six-day event which kicked off on Friday. The most gratifying exhibitor must be the one who runs the Japanese booth, seeing one throng of youngsters after another swarming in to buy their favorite Hello Kitty stamps and telephone cards.

The Japanese booth exhibitor noted that Hello Kitty stamps are also popular in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

With South Korean actor Bae Yong-joon currently in Taiwan for a three-day visit to promote his new movie, some visitors also came to the South Korean booth to see if there were any stamps related to the immensely popular star in Taiwan.

But the booth mainly offers stamps related to South Korean classic literature and cartoons.

The Singapore booth was also popular, with floral and souvenir sheets being the favorite among visitors.

One of the most bustling booths at the exhibition is the Holland booth with a big poster featuring women in traditional Dutch costumes. There were lines of boxes of floral and animal stamps from the Netherlands, China, Japan, Australia, France, Sweden and Iceland. Staff were offering 50 assorted stamps for NT$100 (US$3.12) and there were plenty of takers.

The US stamp dealers displayed lot of old Chinese stamps, because they are highly sought after by Taiwan philatelists.

Taiwan philatelists also like postcards related to anti-Japanese aggression, and landscape and aboriginal people from the island itself.

The price of the anti-Japanese aggression postcards sell between NT$100 and NT$300 depending on their condition.
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