When the Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on the Russian Pacific Fleet stationed at Port Arthur (旅順港) on February 8, 1904, thereby igniting the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese government established the “Regulations on Military Mail” (Imperial Ordinance No. 19) and the “Military Mail Rules” (Ministry of Communications Official Notice No. 6). These measures allowed soldiers and military personnel on campaign to send postal items free of charge.²) Based on these rules, various types of Japanese military postal cards were produced during the Russo-Japanese War and afterward, and were sent free of charge. Today, these cards are effectively used in thematic philatelic exhibits.
In this article, I would like to introduce the different types of military postal cards used by the Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), and the Pacific War (1941–1945).
The first type to be introduced is the military postal card produced by the Japanese Ministry of Communications (遞信省). When the Russo-Japanese War broke out, the Ministry issued on February 25, 1904, office-use postcards that had previously been used free of charge for communication purposes by the Postal Savings Administration, first- and second-class post offices, telegraph offices, telephone offices, and overseas offices. Onto these postcards, they stamped in red the words “Military Mail” and distributed them free of charge to soldiers on deployment. To date, examples of this type have only been discovered in connection with the 12th Division and the 1st Army, which participated in the early stages of the war.³)
