Greetings via Snail Mail

Happy New Year! Sending you greetings from Japan via my virtual New Year’s Card (#年賀状, Nengajo). Here in Japan, we actually exchange New Year’s greetings instead of Christmas cards. We wish each other all the best, good health and happiness – so in fact, the messages remain pretty much the same.

But our Nengajo, especially the official versions (年賀はがき) sold by the post office, offer so much more besides:

• You can post them at any time from mid-December to ensure they arrive on time on 1 January. The post office actually puts aside these cards for later delivery. And there are people out there who actually work on the first day of the year, as they are busy delivering these New Year’s greetings. What a service!

• Postage stamps are pre-printed on cards. So no more licking and sticking stamps.

• Cards come in several designs featuring the animal of the year according to the Japanese zodiac. 2023 is the year of the rabbit.

• If you end up with any leftover New Year's postcard, you can exchange it with a postage stamp or a new one 🖃 at post offices for a small handling fee. Amazingly, this offer is also valid for post cards on which you miswrote (!) or misprint something.

• Each card has a lottery number printed on it. A lottery draw usually takes place in mid-January, giving the lucky winners a great start to the year with some New Year’s celebration money (お年玉、Otoshi-dama).

As you might expect, the heyday of New Year’s cards seem to be long gone. Young people now prefer to exchange their seasons’ greetings digitally.

I admit that I am still part of the old guard in this respect, as I love sending and receiving greetings via snail mail.

Messages written on paper are less likely to simply be deleted.
And my service is there for you to get your message across cultures and continents.

I wish all of you a fresh start in 2023!

#NewYear #culture #japan #message #TranslationSeriviceArai