Gotochi Goodness

'Gotochi' ご当地 means local in Japanese and there are plenty of gotochi things to be found in Japan by prefecture or city etc. The Japanese seems to have an obsession with gotochi items. I suppose it's a sense of identity for each place and it's fun to collect the souvenirs and items for locals and visitors alike.

Gotochi or 'gotchi formu kado' are prefectural postcards issued by JP Post. It started in 2009 and a new card has been issued each year ever since. So currently each prefecture has 6 designs. They can only be bought in the prefecture from local post offices. They are highly collectables both inside and outside Japan making them very popular with postcrossers.

my gotochi collection

I started collecting last year with starting Kanagawa of course, my home prefecture. My collection has slowly grown with the help of friends and colleagues who picked them up on trips and of course other IG collectors of gotochi. I have occasionally swapped them for other non-gotochi postcards. 

Unfortunately gotochi are slightly more expensive than other Japanese postcards. And much more expensive to post compared to the average postcard. Therefore those based in Japan are wary to swap them. I've started sending them in envelopes with other collectors in Japan. I'm grateful for those swaps and happy to see my collection grow.