Will the Japanese tickets be, in the size 2,5 X 5,75 cm, of the
type Edmondson?

By Patricio Larrambebere 
(ABTE)

I think that the ticket featured is a “japanese edmondson”.

When is a ticket an edmondson?  Some conditions could be:

-The size
-The material
-The country where it is/was printed.
-The machinery involved in the printing process.

 So, if we we have in mind these conditions, the only “Edmondson” tickets would be the ones that have the 57.5 x 30 mm size, printed on cardboard of 0.8mm thick, with an Edmondson machine somewhere in England.

I really think that what matters here is the adaptability of the system and creativity used to meet the special conditions and needs in different countries.

That where the richness of the system lies, not in the idea of “original” and “fake” or  “copy”.

Is like saying that football in England is the sport, and everywhere else is not football.

And anyway, “japanese edmondsons” (whatever size, because there are more “edmondsons” of different sizes in Japan) are excellent graphical quality prints. Look at those backgrounds!.

By Naoki Sato 
(Japanese Collector)

When the Edmonsons was introduced into Japan in the late 1800's along with the other railroad technologies . we only had the Edmonsons whose size is what we normally consider as the Edmonsons, namely 3 x 5.75 cm. From the beginning of 1900's (not certain when it was in precise though), the ex-JNR (Japan National Railways, now JR) had introduced three other types of what we (collectors in Japan) consider the Edmonsons.

The original type (3 x 5.75 cm) is what we call the A type, where as the smaller one (2.5 x 5.75 cm) is so called the B type. B type have been used by many railway and some bus companies, and they are often more popular than the A type in Japan. As we had introduced the railway systems into China before the WW2, they still use the B type Edmonsons (never seen the A type in China) but they have been replaced by the computer-printed tickets lately. In Taiwan and South Korea, they had the B type Edmonsons long time ago however they only have the A and D type Edmonsons that are also becoming rare. The D type mentioned here is also the Edmonsons that is specific to Japan. This is sized in 3 x 9 cm and they are very rare now but still issued by some local private railways (used for the round trip tickets, etc.. Also, the C type is something you have never seen. They are 6 x 5.75 cm (double size of the A type) and extremely rare.

 There have been several printing companies but as the Edmonsons are getting less, many of the printers have either shut down their business or quit printing tickets. The background prints are what I consider quite attractive. There are numerous types of colours and patterns of them depending on the company, era, region, etc. where the tickets are sold. I have found several other countries that have such background pattern (coloured), such as China, South Korea, Taiwan (these countries are strongly influenced by Japan), Bangladesh, India, ex USSR, Bulgaria, and more. Printing machines used in Japan are all Japanese made for sure, and none of the ticket printers are exporting Edomonsons to the other countries as they do in Holland, etc.

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