With the introduction of Naruto Postage Stamps at the end of October, Japanese postal service is definitely jazzing up the system. The stamp collection will be called 'NARUTO-Naruto – Accel' (google translation) and it features ten prominent characters from the popular manga/anime series:

1) Naruto Uzumaki
2) Sasuke Uchiha
3) Sakura Haruno
4) Kakashi Hatake
5) Sai
6) Shikamaru Nara
7) Deidara
8) Itachi Uchiha
9) Jiraiya
10) Minato Namikaze

Each stamp is supposed to be sold for 80 Yen.

Here's a quick background wrap up for the uninitiated. Naruto is an action adventure series about a young ninja boy. He is in training to become a full-fledged ninja and the series follows the school genre type adventures of Naruto and his buddies. Of course, there is an underlying story that drives all the sub-plots: keeping true to the chosen one theme, Naruto has strong powers dormant within him, powers that are of a somewhat dodgy nature.

As for the stamps themselves, this might be a commemoration of sorts, to mark 10 years of circulation for the Naruto manga. As the Japanese Postal site points out, the manga did start a decade ago, in 1999, and has been winning over more and more fans over the years. However, it was probably the anime that really hooked the crowd and probably gave the series a wider reach.

This is not the first time the country has introduced manga-based stamps. Their past ventures include the beloved Astroboy, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Detective Conan and Pokemon.

 A lot of folks find such stamps strange and eccentric moves undertaken by official sources. However, if you put it in the Western cultural perspective, it is hardly abnormal is it? Think of other stamps depicting region-specific cultural aspects like Simpsons, Tintin and of course, the rather controversial Memin Pinguin stamps from Mexico.