HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

is the
service mark A service mark or servicemark is a trademark used in the United States and several other countries to identify a service rather than a product. When a service mark is federally registered, the standard registration symbol ® or "Reg U.S. ...
of
Japan Post was a Japanese statutory corporation that existed from 2003 to 2007, offering postal and package delivery services, Retail banking, banking services, and life insurance. It's the nation's largest employer, with over 400,000 employees, and run ...
and its successor, Japan Post Holdings, the
postal operator This is a list of postal entities by country. It includes: *The governmental authority responsible for postal matters. *The regulatory authority for the postal sector. Postal regulation may include the establishment of postal policies, postal rate ...
in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. It is also used as a Japanese
postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...
mark since the introduction of the latter in 1968. Historically, it was used by the , which operated the postal service. The mark is a stylized
katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...
syllable ''te'' ( ), from the word . The mark was introduced on February 8, 1887 (Meiji 20.2.8).


Usage

To indicate a postal code, the mark is written first, and the postal code is written after. For example, one area of
Meguro, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Meguro City. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. Meguro is predominantly residential in character, but is also home to light industry, corporate ...
, would have 〒153-0061 written on any mail, in order to direct mail to that location. This usage has resulted in the inclusion of the mark into the Japanese character sets for
computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
s, and thus eventually their inclusion into
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
, where it can also be found on the Japanese Post Office emoji. In most keyboard-based Japanese input systems, it can be created by typing "yuubin" and then doing a kanji conversion. Of the versions shown to the right, the one on the far right (〒) is the standard mark used in addressing. A circled yūbin mark is often used on maps to denote post offices. Other variants have been used as
conformity mark A certification mark (or conformity mark) on a commercial product indicates the existence of an accepted product standard or regulation and a claim that the manufacturer has verified compliance with those standards or regulations. The specific ...
s inherited from the
Ministry of Communications A Communications Ministry or Department of Communications is a ministry or other government agency charged with communication. Communications responsibilities includes regulating telecommunications, postal services, broadcasting and print media. T ...
: for example, a similar circled mark was used for electrical certification of Category B appliances, contrasted with a triangle-enclosed postal mark (⮗) for Category A appliances, under a precursor to the Act on Product Safety of Electrical Appliances and Materials. The Unicode code chart, as of version 13.0, labels the "Circled Postal Mark" character (〶, U+3036) as "symbol for type B electronics". An enclosed version incorporating a
sawtooth wave The sawtooth wave (or saw wave) is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is so named based on its resemblance to the teeth of a plain-toothed saw with a zero rake angle. A single sawtooth, or an intermittently triggered sawtooth, is called a ...
shape is used as a conformity mark for Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications regulations on radio and other
electromagnetic wave In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) consists of waves of the electromagnetic (EM) field, which propagate through space and carry momentum and electromagnetic radiant energy. It includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, (visib ...
equipment. File:Japan Mailbox Red.jpg, Postal mark marking on a
postbox A post box (British English; also written postbox; also known as pillar box), also known as a collection box, mailbox, letter box or drop box (American English) is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail inten ...
File:Hijetcargo.jpg, Postal mark marking a post van File:Tokorozawa Post office.jpg, Postal mark marking a
post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
File:Rakuten video rental (7745729916).jpg, Postal mark denoting a
postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...
File:⮗ mark on AC→DC adaptor.jpg, ⮗ as a certification mark on an
AC/DC adapter An AC adapter or AC/DC adapter is a type of external power supply, often enclosed in a case similar to an AC plug. Other common names include wall wart, power brick, wall charger, and power adapter. Adapters for battery-powered equipment may ...
File:Telec-bluetooth-label.jpg, Certification mark for
Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
hardware


Encoding

The postal mark appears in the following encoded characters. Before the introduction of
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
, the simple postal mark was encoded for Japanese use in JIS X 0208 (including the Shift JIS encoding). A mascot-stylised was additionally included in some vendor extensions of Shift JIS, including the KanjiTalk 7 variant of MacJapanese, and become part of a standardised Shift JIS variant (at a different location) with the 2000 publication of JIS X 0213. The ARIB extensions for JIS X 0208, specified by the Japanese broadcasting standards
ARIB STD-B24 Broadcast Markup Language, or BML, is an XML-based standard developed by Japan's Association of Radio Industries and Businesses as a data broadcasting specification for digital television broadcasting. It is a data-transmission service allowing tex ...
and ARIB STD-B62, includes a duplicate of the simple mark for use as a map symbol for a post office, as well as a circled variant. Earlier editions of the
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
n standard
KPS 9566 KPS 9566 ("''DPRK Standard Korean Graphic Character Set for Information Interchange''") is a North Korean standard specifying a character encoding for the Chosŏn'gŭl (Hangul) writing system used for the Korean language. The edition of 1997 speci ...
, such as the 1997 edition, included both the simple postal mark and a version in a downward-pointing triangle, which was proposed by the North Korean national body for addition to Unicode in 2001. In response to this proposal, the
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n national body requested evidence for the symbol's use in North Korea, noting that the Japanese-style postal mark is not used in South Korea, which uses a circled 우 (i.e. ㉾) for a similar purpose. A report from a subsequent meeting between North and South Korean representatives from ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2/WG 2 notes that the North Korean body had decided to review the character before discussing it further, and it was subsequently removed from KPS 9566 in 2003, leaving only the simple mark. The version with an enclosing triangle was eventually added to Unicode in version 13.0, on the basis of established usage of both the circled and triangular versions in certification for
electrical appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. Appliances are divided into three ty ...
s in Japan, but also intended to correspond to the KPS 9566-97 character.
Emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversat ...
sets from Japanese cellular carriers included a building with a prominently displayed postal mark (in the simplest case, a postal mark enclosed within a building outline) as a pictograph for a
post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
; this was also adopted into Unicode in version 6.0. Although the most recent versions of Microsoft's Segoe UI Emoji also show a building, earlier versions from prior to
Windows 10 Anniversary Update Windows 10 Anniversary Update (also known as version 1607 and codenamed "Redstone 1") is the second major update to Windows 10 and the first in a series of updates under the Redstone codenames. It carries the build number 10.0.14393. This update, ...
showed this emoji as a simple postal mark, appearing red in colour presentation.


See also

* * History of Japanese postal services *
Japanese addressing system The Japanese addressing system is used to identify a specific location in Japan. When written in Japanese characters, addresses start with the largest geographical entity and proceed to the most specific one. When written in Latin characters, ad ...
* Japanese typographic symbols *
Japanese map symbols This is a list of symbols appearing on Japanese maps. These symbols are called in the Japanese language. Partial list of symbols for users with visual impairment Official symbols according to the conventions of the Geographical Survey Instit ...
*
Kazakhstani tenge The tenge ( or ; kk, теңге, teñge, ; sign: ₸ ; code: KZT) is the currency of Kazakhstan. It is divided into 100 tiyn ( kk, тиын, tıyın also transliterated as ''tiyin''). History After the breakup of the Soviet Union in December ...
(uses an almost identical symbol)


References


External links


Official Postal site
{{in lang, en (archived 4 July 2006) 1887 introductions Symbols introduced in 1968 1887 establishments in Japan 1968 establishments in Japan Communications in Japan Typographical symbols Emoji