Japan occupied the British colony of Burma from 1942 to 1944 during World War II, and there are many interesting postage stamp collectibles that arose from this situation.
First, there were the stamps of British Burma overprinted with three different bird emblems — these are known as henzada, myaungmya, and pyapon stamps (other spellings may be seen). Also in 1942, the myaungmya overprint was used on official stamps — for these, Burmese script was added to the peacock to denote their status as official service postage stamps.
In June 1942, Japan issued “Yano seals”, based on the personal stamp of Shizuo Yano, who was chosen to run the Burmese postal system. These ultra-simple seals feature only the kanji for his name, Yano: 央野. Later that month, Japan released stamps for Burmese with a more complete design; the Japanese phrase ビルマ郵便切手 (“Burma postage stamp”) is inscribed across the top, and a rather crude image of a worker in a field with a beast of burden is underneath. The value is in annas. After a period where Japan used its own stamps from the homeland with surcharges for Burma, it issued a set of these plowing farmer stamps again, in several values.
Burma Stamps (Myanmar Stamps): Philately With Two Names
There followed a few stamp designs featuring Burmese script only; later stamps used Japanese again: ビルマ (“Burma”) and シヤン (“Shan’, used in the nearby Shan States). Finally, in 1944, Japan used its own Japanese stamps with Burmese overprints. These would be the last stamps of the Japanese occupation of Burma; the British Military Administration took control of Burma’s postage after the war.
