Japan: Anpanman

Today I got two postcards: one from Japan and one from Singapore.

The card from Japan shows Anpanman. Anpanman is a Japanese picture book series written by Takashi Yanase (1919-2013). The series runs from 1973 until the death of Takashi Yanase. There is also a anime adaptation called "Soreike! Anpanman" ("Let's Go! Anpanman"). The anime adaption started in 1988. The head of Anpanman is made of anpan (a bean-jam filled pastry) baked by Uncle Jam. The main-antagonist of Anpanman is Baikinman. In the anime there were 1,768 characters appearing in the first 980 episodes. Thus Anpanman is since 2009 a Guinness World Record Holder for the highest number of characters in an animated franchise.

Stamps:
Beetle (issued 28-11-1997)
Duck (issued 2010)

Thank You very much "lovelysunflower"!