Blue mailboxes promote Hokkaido’s UNESCO site

The Yomiuri Shimbun
A postal worker stands next to a blue mailbox.

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Distinctive blue mailboxes were installed in front of the Toya, Toya Onsen and Abuta post offices in Toyako, Hokkaido, to help promote the Toya-Usu UNESCO Global Geopark.

An association promoting the nation’s first UNESCO Global Geopark installed the mailboxes in cooperation with the local post offices.

The geopark spans the city of Date plus Toyoura, Sobetsu and Toyako towns.

The mailboxes are painted in “Lake Toya Blue” to represent water as well as the sky above the lake. The Global Geopark logo is displayed on the mailboxes along with the English phrase “We live on the Ever-changing Earth” on the sides.