Romfilatelia and Romanian Post introduce into circulation on Monday, September 15th, this year, a souvenir sheet entitled „EXPO OSAKA 1970 – 2025”, consisting of a souvenir sheet and a First Day Cover, to mark an event of world exhibition importance and an anniversary in the chronology of Romanian philately: 55 years since the first thematic issue of EXPO’70 – OSAKA, in 1970. The philatelic issue compund of two postage stamps and a perforated souvenir sheet was put into circulation on March 24th, 1970 (the stamps) and on December 1st 1970 (the perforated souvenir sheet).
The World Exhibition organized in Japan marked the third world exhibition event after the end of the World War in 1945, following the Brussels Exhibition in 1958 and the Montreal Exhibition in 1967. The Japanese exhibition themed ‘Progress and Harmony for Mankind’ marked a major achievement for post-war Japan, which was reflected in the showcasing of major advances in the country’s fields of technology and economics, exploring solutions to global problems such as poverty and environmental degradation. The exhibition saw a record number of more than 64 million visitors from 77 countries; this number was surpassed only at EXPO SHANGHAI 2010.
The two postage stamps of the Romanian issue of EXPO’70 – OSAKA whose graphics were made by a very well-known artist and engraver Ion Dumitrana, reproduced an image of a young Japanese girl with a hat with flowers (face value of 20 bani) and a pagoda (face value of 1 Leu).
The souvenir sheet of the issue, printed in Japan with computerized numbering, was brought to Romania in November 1970 and put into circulation on December 1st of the same year.
The image of the stamp depicts a 7-storeys pagoda, in which the Furukawa Pavilion was organized. As a ‘departure’ from the basic norms of producing souvenir sheets, the image framed by the traditional perforation of the stamp has no face value inscribed, but is printed in the outer space, which features a background design with silhouettes of young Japanese women in various costumes. The drawing was made using a FACOM 270/30 computer, representative of the cutting-edge technology of the Fujitsu company.
The souvenir sheet of the issue entitled EXPO OSAKA 1970 – 2025, has an overprint with the face value of Lei 55 printed on the postage stamp, a perforated star shape (as a safety element) and elements of a thematic drawing made by the well-known designer and painter Mircea Cantor.
The First Day Cover reproduces a stylized drawing of the Romanian Exhibition Pavilion at Expo Osaka 2025, having the postage stamp of the overprinted souvenir sheet and the bicolored First Day postmark, symbolizing the flag of Japan.
