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New Year postcards go on sale

7 Comments

Post offices nationwide have started selling "nengajo" (New Year postcards) for 2016. A ceremony was held Thursday to launch the sale of the postcards, attended by model Angelica Michibata, Fuji TV reported.

The key element of this year's cards is the "webchara nenga," which lets you pick a theme or character from among 11 different ones, including "Star Wars" and "Super Mario Brothers," and customize your own postcard online or on your smartphone.

Japan Post said it expects to sell about 3.2 billion "nengajo" this year, a drop of about 200 million compared to last year.

Post offices will start accepting "nengajo" from Dec 15.

The number of people who no longer send "nengajo" has increased over the past few years.

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7 Comments
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I like it when people send a postcard saying they will not be sending postcards for nengajo this year.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

i know more and more people have stopped sending negajo, but it really is nice to get something from old friends once a year letting you know how they are. i hate facebook letting me know the minutae of everyone's daily lives. TMI!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Exactly. I have fond memories of writing nengajo by hand and being excited to get the stack on New Year's Day. I have all of my grandmother's letters saved.

nakanoguy01Oct. 30, 2015 - 04:03PM JST "i know more and more people have stopped sending negajo, but it really is nice to get something from old friends once a year letting you know how they are. i hate facebook letting me know the minutae of everyone's daily lives. TMI!"

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Family to family, great. Friend to friend, fantastic. But the absurdity of B2B nengajyos needs to come to an end. I have friends who are tasked with sending HUNDREDS to people they don't know just for 'tradition's sake'. It's a joke.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I like it when people send a postcard saying they will not be sending postcards for nengajo this year.

Yeah, that's pretty hilarious! It means that a close relative has died and, per Buddhist custom, they would prefer that you not send them a nengajo as there will be nothing to be omedetaiish about for the next year.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I really enjoyed this custom. Sending and giving ! And delivered on New Year's Day ! Try to get the US Postal Service to do that !

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Imagine my confusion each year when I receive these cards from people who won't even say hello at work. Nengajo's like many other traditions in this society, have very little or no meaning to the people who actually practice them.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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