Free LINE stickers

I am personally not a big fan of LINE, the mammoth Japanese messaging service and communication App. I only use the App when I absolutely have to. I think one of the reasons I don't like it is because there such peer pressure around the App. Japan has a love of portmanteau with the word 'hara', for harassment. Yet, surprisingly, there is no word, that I know of, for LINE related harassment.

There really should be a word for it, because it is a thing, as many of us living in Japan are aware. On meeting somebody for the first time, it is almost part of the fixed greetings to ask "Do you use LINE?" and if you do, you are expected to share your LINE account details, whether you want to or not. There have been countless articles written about the frustration people feel for one, having to share their LINE details, and two, having to respond to seemingly endless, and often pointless, LINE chats.

The one and only thing I like about the LINE App is the cute stickers! I never have and never will pay for LINE stickers. Thankfully, they have a good choice of free stickers, within the sticker store. In order to get most of these free line stickers, you have to friend or follow the company that is sponsoring them. They usually only last for a fixed period of time, around two months on average, but you can use them limitlessly in that time. What I do is add / follow the company and then when the free stamps expire I unfriend, unfollow and delete all records of the company. Its not as time consuming as it sounds. 

Today is LINE stickers day「LINEスタンプの日」. They call them "stamps" in Japanese. It is on October 4th because it was the date the  LINE stickers feature was launched in 2011. Do you use the free LINE stamps or do you pay for some too?