Japan and India relationship

A beautiful cover from Japan 

The sender, knowing that I like joint issues offered to send me the Japan India joint issue stamp of 2002 . 

Japan and India issued joint issue stamps in 2002. But the stamps were completely different. While India issued stamps depicting dances of India and Japan , Japan issued a single stamp showing Tajmahal . 

The stamp was issued as part of the Japan - South Asia series on 12-04-2002 along with Japan - pakistan , Bangladesh and Srilanka Joint Issue stamps. 

The other stamp is a very old stamp - 1975 - honouring their majesties visit to USA. 

The stamp features the Japanese flag - which represents the land of the rising sun - and cherry blossoms - a flower that is native to Japan and was offered as a gift to USA. 

Thanks CS for the cover - I love how it depicts Japan and India and speaks so much of their rich heritage :) 



Update : 17-June - 2019

Another cover from Japan with the Tajmahal stamp and a cachet too !! 

This is the first cover I received from Japan after the emperor abdicated on May1, 2019 and the crown prince succeeded him as the Emperor. So the era also is reset and the Japanese year is counted as Year 1 from May 1, 2019 ( which can be seen in the brown postmark )