Heart-Themed Post Office Opens in Tokyo's Shibuya

Tokyo, Aug. 17 (Jiji Press)--Japan Post Holdings Co. and its Japan Post Co. unit opened a heart-themed post office in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Thursday to make people in their 10s and 20s feel close to post offices. The "Zukkyun Yubinkyoku" post office, only open until Aug. 30, has a large heart-shaped mailbox and a photo sticker machine that turns photographs taken in it into postage stamps. The office also features a heart-shaped card that people can write wishes on and hang on walls, as well as special postcards. "I felt a sense of closeness to writing a letter," said model and actor Rinka Kumada, who was named an "ambassador" to promote the post office by Japan Post Holdings President Hiroya Masuda at an opening ceremony. "We can enjoy stamps that feel special, as well as the process of putting (letters) in the mailbox (at the office)," she went on to say. The heart-themed post office is the first in a series of internally proposed projects to create the future of the post office. Other planned themes include child-rearing households. END