Postcrossing Blog

Thirteen months ago, we published a ranking of how popular Postcrossing was in a given country, based on the number of postcrossers for every 100,000 inhabitants.

It’s been a while since then, so we thought it was time to compile some fresh statistics, and check if there were any noticeable differences. Here is the updated ranking:

Ranking (current)	Country	Postcrossers (per 100,000 inhabitants)	Previous ranking (in Dec. 2010)
1	Finland	275	↔ 1
2	Lithuania	164	↑ 3
3	Belarus	161	↑ 8
4	Netherlands	157	↔ 4
5	Estonia	154	↓ 2
6	Taiwan	142	↔ 6
7	Latvia	98	↔ 7
8	Macao	91	↓ 5
9	Hong Kong	66	↑ 19
10	Åland Islands	56	↑ >50
11	Czech Republic	55	↑ 15
12	Poland	54	↑ 16
13	Iceland	50	↓ 9
14	Singapore	43	↓ 11
15	Portugal	43	↓ 10
16	Ukraine	39	↑ 35
17	Germany	38	↔ 17
18	Slovenia	35	↓ 13
19	Guernsey	31	↓ 12
20	New Zealand	30	↓ 14
21	Russia	30	↑ 29
22	Luxembourg	28	↓ 20
23	Belgium	23	↑ 26
24	Switzerland	22	↑ 25
25	Austria	21	↑ 28
26	Australia	20	↓ 18
27	Canada	17	↓ 24
28	Norway	16	↓ 23
29	Jersey	15	↓ 27
30	Malta	15	↓ 21
31	Ireland	13	↑ 33
32	U.S.A.	13	↓ 31
33	United Kingdom	13	↓ 32
34	Hungary	10	↔ 34
35	Croatia	10	↓ 30
36	Slovakia	10	↑ 38
37	Malaysia	9	↑ 40
38	Brunei	9	↓ 37
39	Spain	9	↑ 44
40	Sweden	9	↓ 36
41	Guam	8	↑ >50
42	Moldova	8	↑ 49
43	Thailand	7	↓ 39
44	France	7	↓ 42
45	Montenegro	6	↓ 43
46	Korea (South)	6	↑ >50
47	Bulgaria	6	↑ 48
48	Turkey	6	↓ 47
49	Denmark	6	↓ 45
50	Israel	5	↑ >50

What do you know? Finland is still leading the ranking by a mile! :) New-comers to the table include the Åland Islands, Guam, South Korea and Israel. Please note that in the case of the Åland Islands, the ranking is skewed, as their population is about 26,000 inhabitants.

On the fast-climbers side, Hong Kong jumped 10 places (from 19th to 9th) but the most surprising climb comes from Ukraine, which rose from 35th place to 16th! Well done!

Are there other statistics you would be curious to see here? Let us know!

PS: Like the last time, to calculate the data above we took into account only countries with more than 10 members and excluded countries which were too small or of which we did not have any relevant population data.

As some of you already know from previous editions, a new Chinese Year means a new exhibition at the Singaporean Philatelic Museum!

The theme of this year’s exhibition is Snakes and Ladders, and all postcrossers are invited to contribute to it by sending in their snake-themed postcards to:

Singapore Philatelic Museum
23B Coleman Street
Singapore 179807
Singapore

As with the previous exhibitions, the museum will send a postcard back to all of those who include their address!

The exhibitions at the Singapore Philatelic Museum are usually very interactive, and especially attractive to the younger visitors of the museum – so please send a message to the little ones! You can tell them about your favourite snake, or just say hi! Bonus points if you can find stamps with snakes as well!

Here are some photos from this year’s exhibition, which will run until September:

Doesn’t it look neat? You can tell all the effort that goes into making this a great showcase, so if you’re in Singapore, don’t miss it! :)

Do you know how to say “Hello” in French… or Chinese? Ok, maybe you already know those ones, but how about “Thank you for your card!” in Norwegian or “Goodbye” in Dutch? If you wonder how to write these and other sentences, then you don’t need to search any more!

Sebastian (aka BlueJay) from Germany has put together an excellent resource for us: Dictionaries for Postcrossers. He compiled together the translation of several common Postcrossers sentences in 30 languages – and it keeps growing!

And if by chance your language is not there yet, he accepts new contributions so don’t be shy! :)

Tschüss!

One of the most popular cartoon characters of all time, Hello Kitty has been an iconic part of pop culture for over than 30 years. But where did this adorable white kitten come from?

Hello Kitty was designed by Japanese artist Yuko Shimizu, who at the time was not trying to create an icon, but was simply doodling! She drew inspiration from Japanese bobtail cats and put her own twist on it, giving the drawing no mouth, and a bright red bow. She first captured the hearts of people all over Japan in 1974, when she appeared on a small coin purse, between a bottle of milk and a goldfish bowl!

Sanrio is the name of Japanese company that began distributing Hello Kitty all over the world in 1976. They’ve also introduced her family, and gave her a background… for instance, did you know that she was born in the suburbs of London, and weighs as much as three apples? :)

Sanrio has also featured Hello Kitty in mass produced collectible items like necklaces, folders, pencils and more. In the 1980s, a Hello Kitty craze swept the United States, and anything with her likeness sold like hotcakes – she was even featured on a couple of different cartoon shows and her image graced appliances, dolls and other items. In Japan, Sanrio has opened two Hello Kitty theme parks called Harmonyland and Sanrio Puroland, both of which delight millions of visitors every year!

Hello Kitty is beloved not only for her cute image in colourful backgrounds, but also for her optimism and happy messages – despite her lack of mouth. Sanrio representatives say this particular characteristic helps people project their feelings on the character, and that because she speaks from the heart, she isn’t bound to any language.

These days, Hello Kitty continues to appear on everything from jewellery to laptop sleeves… and of course, many beloved postcards! You can learn more about Hello Kitty’s stunning rise to fame and check her many themed products on the Sanrio website.

Minna (aka minnasusanne) lives in the Finnish countryside. She loves stones, the Rasmus, and Stephen King's books! Here is what she had to say to our interview questions:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I heard about Postcrossing for the first time when I picked up our mail in the end of year 2006. There were great cards from different countries around the world, sent to my oldest daughter who had joined Postcrossing. In a few weeks I joined too! First I liked the idea of getting cards from foreign countries, then the opportunity to improve my language skills. But the best thing I think are the wonderful friends I soon found here.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

This is our mailbox, done by me and my husband. Finnish postal service delivers mail to 1 km from your home if you live in the countryside like we do. So our mailbox is in middle of the forest along our road to home. It is pretty obvious that I like stones!

Sometimes, I use the postcards I receive to decorate parts of my home:

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I like to read and listen to music but I must confess that I’m a serious card addict. I don’t spend much time with anything else. This means that postcards have evolved from a hobby to a profession for me this autumn. Last two years I have been interested in taking photographs and after plenty of dreaming and planning I decided to publish some photos as postcards. That’s how my small-scale postcard web shop Minor Postcards was born.

Lately I enjoy planning different cards with my daughter and searching good motifs from other photographers works – I know I’m a beginner and can’t take photos of the Northern lights or polar bears, for example.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

It is impossible to pick just one card. Here are some special cards:

A Sandman postcard and John Bauer's illustration because I like dreamlike drawings and the idea to have a matching stamp to a card is great. (But I don’t like the “Postmonster” which damages cards and hope to get my cards in envelopes so stamps don’t actually matter to me).

The paper doll Robin Hood cat card and Sheepworld card because I like “cut out do it yourself” cards.

The Rasmus is my favorite band and you can’t buy cards about them. This Touchnote card was an official RU-1122544 and I appreciate it very much, because the sender really made an effort.

I also love black & white cards and stones and got these from friends. The broken stone heart was my avatar for a while.

And the Help! card is there because I like funny ideas and would love to have that key in my laptop!!

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I like the most about picking the right card for the receiver. I look at their wishlist and try to find something which might be something they would like. It is nice to read Hoorays afterwards and hear how well I managed.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

This is not actually an answer to this question… but it was a fine surprise to receive the first page from my favorite author Stephen King's book Carrie as an official BR-153331. It arrived a long way from Brazil and got here in good shape, despite the long journey.

Have you met any other members in real life?

Yes, my daughter was the first! I have been to some meetings in Finland and met Finnish members there. I don’t usually go to big meet-ups, I prefer small meetings. I have met some foreign members too, two of them visited my home, and I have visited one Swiss member. And once I made a surprise visit to a German member for her birthday when I was in Germany for other reason. It was soooo fun!! I can say that with some members I don’t only share postcards, I share my life and we really are friends. And that’s amazing!