Things I didn't try early on: stamp rallies

Apropos to my previous post about stamps; another thing I didn't try in my early years in Japan is stamp rallies. These are a level up from the plain old, regular ink stamps you can find anywhere and everywhere! A stamp rally is when you are given stamp card (or use an app) and a quest to find and press (or photograph) specific stamps, often in return for a small prize.

There are many different type of stamp rallies. One of the common ones is food theme stamp rallies, as per the photo of this post. Where you get a stamp for every participating restaurant you eat in and when you collect a certain number you bring the stamp card to a designated location to receive a small prize. It is also very common to have stamp rallies aimed at children. Especially for special occasions such as Halloween or Christmas. At any one given time you can find literally dozens of stamp rallies on around a given prefecture. 

I actually don't really remember the very first stamp rally I participated in. But I do remember the first one where I got a particularly nice Hello Kitty charm for my efforts! I must say though, I am often guilty of completing the stamp rally without bringing it to the designated area to get the prize! When the children do it though, I make an extra special effort to bring them to collect their prize. Just to note: not all of them offer a prize or reward. For some, the reward is in the hunt and the fun of the stamp rally itself!