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Sending Picture Postcards with QR Codes from Your Travels - The Atmosphere of a Trip That Photos Cannot Fully Convey

Last updated: 4 min read

Why Add a QR Code to a Picture Postcard

The culture of sending picture postcards from travel destinations continues even in the age of email and social media. This is because a single postcard arriving in the mailbox has a sense of "going to the trouble" and a warmth that digital messages do not have. But a single postcard cannot fully convey the atmosphere of a trip. The sound of waves, the bustle of a market, the colors of a sunset. Expressing travel memories felt with all five senses using only words and a single photo is difficult.

If you add a QR code, you can keep the warmth of the postcard while delivering even the "atmosphere" of the trip. When scanned, an audio file recording the sound of waves on a beach plays. A short video taken on location runs. With a 360-degree panoramic photo, the scenery spreads out as if you were standing right there. The person who receives the postcard can relive the trip on their smartphone while feeling the texture of the paper.

Creating a QR Code While Traveling Is Surprisingly Easy

You may think "Isn't making a QR code during a trip a hassle?", but in fact everything other than printing and mailing can be done on a smartphone. Here are the steps.

  1. Upload the photos and videos you took on your trip to a shared album in Google Photos (at a hotel with Wi-Fi)
  2. Copy the link to the shared album
  3. Convert the link into a QR code with a free QR code generator app
  4. Save the QR code as a screenshot
  5. Print the QR code on sticker paper at a convenience store or a photo printing service (if you are abroad, use the printer in the hotel's business center)
  6. Stick the QR code sticker on the picture postcard and mail it

When you cannot use a printer, there is also the option of drawing the QR code by hand. It may sound like a joke, but a Version 1 (21 by 21 modules) QR code can in theory be created by filling in the squares of graph paper with a black pen. However, it takes patience to draw 441 modules accurately, so in practice printing is recommended.

Picture Postcards That Deliver Sound

One of the appeals of adding a QR code to a picture postcard is that you can deliver "sound." The sounds of a trip that photos cannot convey. The tone of an accordion playing in a Paris café, the echo of gamelan heard at a temple in Bali, the chirping of small birds recorded in a forest in Hokkaido.

All you have to do is record the local sounds with your smartphone's voice memo app, upload them to Google Drive or SoundCloud, and turn the link into a QR code. When the recipient scans it, the local sounds flow into their ears while they look at the photo on the postcard. You have completed a luxurious picture postcard that lets people relive the trip with both sight and hearing.

A "letter of sound from a travel destination" can also be a gift for people who are visually impaired. Even if they cannot see the photo on the postcard, they can sense the atmosphere of the trip by listening to the sound of the waves or the bustle of the city.

Postal Conditions Around the World and QR Codes

When you stick a QR code sticker on a picture postcard and mail it from abroad, there is just one point to watch out for. That point is to keep the QR code sticker from overlapping the stamp or the barcode (which the post office uses for sorting). Automatic sorting machines at post offices scan the front of the postcard to read the address. If the QR code interferes with the sorting barcode, delivery may be delayed.

A safe place to stick it is the blank area on the back of the postcard (the side with the printed photo). It is safer not to stick it on the front (the address side). A sticker size of about 2 cm square is enough. If it is too small, it is hard to scan, and if it is too large, it spoils the design of the picture postcard.

Incidentally, according to Japan Post's guidance, the postage for postcards sent from Japan to other countries is the same for any destination in the world, for both airmail and surface mail (as of October 2026). This ease may also be one of the reasons the picture postcard culture continues.

The Luxury of Deliberately Choosing Analog in the Digital Age

Even though a photo sent on LINE arrives in an instant, you go to the trouble of writing a picture postcard and putting it in the mailbox. This very "inefficiency" is the value of a picture postcard. A QR code is a tool that quietly adds the richness of digital to this inefficient luxury.

The "joy of waiting" during the few days until the postcard arrives, the delight of "It's here!" when you open the mailbox, the warmth of reading handwritten words. And then the surprise of "They even sent this!" when you scan the QR code. In the moment when analog and digital overlap, travel memories become more likely to be etched deeply in the heart.