As a sidelight, most countries make a considerable effort to integrate into the world. Japan is very willing to be part
of the world economically, but culturally it retains its nationalist nature. This is seen in the fact that so few Japanese learn English in school and how relatively few study in the West and how few Westerners study in Japan. This is also seen in the difficulty in finding literature and information about Kobans and Koban varieties that is written in Western languages. One older Japanese stamp dealer who came to one of our specialized Japanese sales explained it to me by saying, “There are many very rare cancellations on these Koban issues that were only used on letters going overseas. If we publish information in English which let you learn about these cancels, we won’t be able to buy the good ones at cheap prices ourselves.”