Fumi no Hi (Letter Day)
Next: July 23, 2027
Write to someone by hand.
The story
Where it comes from
Fumi no Hi, 'Letter Day', was set in 1979 by Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, which named the 23rd of every month a day for letters and began a nationwide campaign to bring people back to writing them. The number is a pun: 2 and 3 can be read fu and mi, and fumi is an old word for a letter. The 23rd of July is the main one, because July's traditional name, Fumizuki, is written with the same character.
How it's celebrated
Japan Post issues a special set of Fumi no Hi stamps every 23 July, often sticker-style sheets meant to make an envelope look festive, and runs hands-on Fumi no Hi events where people can try writing and posting a letter. The aim is to share the fun of writing a letter and the joy of receiving one. Anywhere in the world it is a good excuse to send a handwritten card to someone who would not expect one.
Did you know
- The campaign runs all year: every 23rd of the month is a Fumi no Hi, not only the one in July.
- Japan Post designs some Fumi no Hi sheets so that, once a stamp is peeled off and stuck on, its edge looks like a coloured decoration on the envelope.
- The 2024 set pictured old postal objects, from a carrier pigeon and a postman's bugle to a black-painted post box of 1872.
Coming up next
- International Self-Care Day · July 24, 2027
- World Drowning Prevention Day · July 25, 2027
- International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem · July 26, 2027
- The Transatlantic Cable Lands · July 27, 2027
- World Hepatitis Day · July 28, 2027
- Global Tiger Day · July 29, 2027