USPS Kicks Off New Year with New Stamps with Hawaiʻi Ties

The United States Postal Service will kick off the New Year by issuing a pair of USPS stamps that have Hawaiʻi connections.

The stamp depicts an arrangement of lucky bamboo along with an intricate cut-paper design of a dog created by Hawaiʻi graphic design icon Clarence Lee. PC: USPS

The Year of the Dog Forever stamp—the first stamp of the New Year—will be issued and available for sale nationwide on Thursday, Jan. 11.

The stamp depicts an arrangement of lucky bamboo along with an intricate cut-paper design of a dog created by Hawaiʻi graphic design icon Clarence Lee. His paper-cut animal designs have graced every USPS Lunar New Year stamp since they were introduced in 1992. It is the 11th of 12 stamps in the Celebrating Lunar New Year series.

The stamp also features a piece of red paper with the Chinese character fu, meaning good fortune, rendered in calligraphy, and the Chinese character for “dog,” drawn in grass-style calligraphy.

USPS will commemorate the issuance of this stamp with a special First Day of Issue ceremony at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11 at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza in Honolulu. The ceremony will feature remarks by Hawaiʻi Chinese History Center president Douglas. D.L. Chong and USPS Pacific Area Vice President Larry Munoz, and culminate in the official unveiling of the stamp.

Those in attendance will be able to purchase sheets of the Year of the Dog stamps and have them hand cancelled for free with a special commemorative postmark. The event is free and open to the public.

The stamp features a colorful illustration of the Byodo-In Temple, located at Valley of the Temples Memorial Park in Kāneʻohe. PC: USPS

The second stamp, Byodo-In Temple Priority Mail stamp will be issued on Jan. 21 and available for sale nationwide on Monday, Jan. 22.

The stamp features a colorful illustration of the Byodo-In Temple, located at Valley of the Temples Memorial Park in Kāneʻohe.

The Byodo-In Temple is a smaller-scale concrete replica of a wooden Buddhist temple located in Uji, Japan that dates back to the middle of the 11th century. Byodo-In was built in 1968 to commemorate the centennial of the first Japanese immigration to Hawaiʻi.

USPS will commemorate the issuance of this stamp with a special dedication event at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at the Byodo-In Temple.

The ceremony will feature remarks by Valley of the Temples Area General Manager Dennis Boser Jr. and Kaneohe Postmaster Kanani Alos, and culminate in the official unveiling of the stamp. Those in attendance will be able to purchase Byodo-In Priority stamps and have them hand cancelled for free with a special pictorial postmark. The event is free and open to the public.