Special train station stamps

I read somewhere that on some train stations throughout Tokyo and other parts of Japan, you can get a special stamp unique to that station.
This sounds like alot of fun, but I was wondering in you need a special book to get the stamps in?

If you mean the rubber stamps (often round, or square) located at JR train stations around Tokyo, I've seen a few, and all you need is just whatever notebook/sheet of paper you want to stamp them into :) They have a stamp stand where you can just go and stamp yourself. You might want papersheet/notebook, let's say, sized quarter of letter size (Japanese postcard size) for them to fit comfortably. Have fun!

Do you maybe know if they are on a certain spot in the trainstations? And what is the Japanese name for this activity?

Thanks alot!

In Central Tokyo (23 wards) the 77 JR stations have stamps, each station has it in a different location, but they are OUTSIDE the ticket gates so you have to enter and exit, it can be a costly hobby or thing to do unless you had a special pass to travel all day like the Tokunai Pass.

Sometimes if it is a small station they will have it near the gate, the bad part is if you exit the north side only to find out that the stamp is located on the south side, or in a huge station like Shinjuku with many exits. Sometimes it might be in the reservation office of the station, sometimes a station has many reservation offices so you have to ask the staff here the stamp is.

You should ask "eki stampu doko desuka?"

There is no special name for stamp collection, HOWEVER occasionally JR will hold a special event for kids called STAMP RALLYs where you often see lines of kids with their parents at stations collecting stamps.

You don't need any special notebook or paper, however the problem I ran into is many stamp pads were dry of ink, so if you can invest in your own (red) large ink pad, I would bring it, if not some small amount of water to get some juice out of those dried up ink pads.

I loved those stamps... I always take a little notebook with me and look for them at all the major stations (I never looked for stamps at Tokyo JR staions). However there are also many temples which have those memory stamps. Sometimes different motives. At the Kyoto Kiyomizudera for example they even have hairdryers prepared for the visitors so they can blowdry the stamps.

Writing about it: Another nice memory is the temples signatures which you can have calligraphed at the temples into your book. Usually they take 300 Yen for it. It usually only contains the name of the temple and the date, decorated with special stamps in vermillion. It looks great and is a great addition to all the tickets, hotel business cards or brochures that I glue into it. However, some of the places we went to didn't consider my book honorable enough to sign it.... (at Ise and Itsukushima shrine).... they were only willing to sell me a sheet I could glue to my book.... Those signatures are ment for pilgrims, and if you want you can buy a special book for that purpose... On sale at the tmeples...

Also sometimes museums and other buildings are having stamps too. I was often surprised about where I would find them. You can alos check them out at airports. Mostly you find a little unmaned table somewhere with ink pads and stamps, often on chains.

Enjoy!
Gaby

Thank you all for the great information! It's really helpful and I'm looking forward to collecting!

Try the Watercolor Moleskine, this makes for a nice stamping book and since its for watercloro the ink soaks in and doesn't bleed or tranfer to other pages.

Also, just about anywhere could have a stamp, even some hotels have them.

Late response, but let me tell you some good things, maybe for your next visit, future reference and other stamp hunters planning to visit Tokyo some time soon.

Stamp Collecting is fun!
What I'm doing is not riding the train but WALK most ways.
See, I love walking, so I can really get a feel for the town AND collect stamps at that.
Tokyo is great for walking, and walking the Yamanote can be really fun.
I also enjoyed walking the Chuo-Line. It takes usually 10-20 minutes to walk to the next station, so it's never really boring.

But here's the thing most people don't know:
Not only the JR in Tokyo has stamps!
Tokyo Metro has them as well. The stamp is always at the lost&found office. I have not collected that many Tokyo Metro stamps, but thous Metro stamps usually look better than the JR stamps. Many different colors, too.

The Toei-Line also has stamps, but those are sometimes located inside the gates and sometimes outside, so it's not great for walking.

Happy Stamp Hunting! =D