Japanese Philately
  • Home
  • Communicate
    • Contact Form
    • Newsletter
  • Literature
    • Books & Downloads
    • Auction Catalogues
  • Stamps
    • Request For Opinion
    • Genuine >
      • Definitives >
        • Watermarks & Dies
        • Stamps >
          • Dragon Series
          • Cherry Blossom Series
          • Old Koban Series
          • New Koban Series
          • Chrysanthemum Series
          • Tazawa Series
          • Mt. Fuji Deer Series
          • Earthquake Emergency Series
          • Scenery Series
          • Showa Series
          • 1st/2nd/3rd Showa series
          • Formosa Local Issue
          • 1st/2nd New Showa Series
          • Occupational Series
          • Showa Unwatermarked Series
        • Sheetlets
        • Booklets
      • I.J.P.O. >
        • China
        • Korea
      • Commemoratives >
        • Stamps
        • Sheetlets
        • Semi-Postal
      • Telegraph
      • Military
      • Air Mail
      • New Year >
        • Stamps
        • Sheetlets
      • National Parks >
        • Stamps
        • Sheetlets
      • Modern >
        • Stamps, Booklets, Sheetlets
        • First Day Covers
        • Regional
    • Non-Genuine >
      • Tourist Sheets
  • Stationery
    • Wrappers
    • Regular Cards
    • Stamped Envelopes
    • Foreign Mail
    • Letter Sheets
    • Government Issue Pictorial
    • Civilian Official & Military
    • Commemorative
    • For use in China & Kwantong District
    • Aerogrammes
    • New Year
    • Summer Greeting
    • Parcel Post
  • History
    • Calendar
    • Foreign Post Offices in Japan
    • Domestic Post Offices >
      • Postal Rates 1871-1944
      • Postal Savings
      • Registered Mail
      • International Reply Coupons
      • Officially Sealed
      • Training stamps
    • Postal History >
      • General
      • Military & P.O.W.
    • Presentation Books
  • Other
    • Ryukyus
    • Tax
    • Reproductions
    • Private Post Cards & Sheetlets
    • Coins, Bank Notes & Han-Satsu
    • Coupons & Seals
  • Store
An international reply coupon (IRC) is a coupon that can be exchanged for one or more postage stamps representing the minimum postage for an unregistered priority airmail letter of up to twenty grams sent to another Universal Postal Union (UPU) member country. IRCs are accepted by all UPU member countries. UPU member postal services are obliged to exchange an IRC for postage, but are not obliged to sell them.

The purpose of the IRC is to allow a person to send someone in another country a letter, along with the cost of postage for a reply. If the addressee is within the same country, there is no need for an IRC because a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) or return postcard will suffice; but if the addressee is in another country an IRC removes the necessity of acquiring foreign postage or sending appropriate currency.

The IRC was introduced in 1906 at a Universal Postal Union congress in Rome. At the time an IRC could be exchanged for a single-rate, ordinary postage stamp for surface delivery to a foreign country, as this was before the introduction of airmail services. An IRC is exchangeable in a UPU member country for the minimum postage of a priority or unregistered airmail letter to a foreign country. (Courtesy Wikipedia)


Japan
For use in China & Kwantong District


   © japanesephilately  All Rights Reserved





  Contact: admin@japanesephilately.com