Japanese culture: 年賀状 Nengajyo (New Year cards)

Everyone sends New Year cards to their colleagues and friends at the end of the year. These come in the form of postcards, usually with a picture of whichever animal the coming year is (they have the same 12 animal zodiacs as the Chinese) or you can get them specially printed with photos of your children on them. The postcards have prepaid stamps printed on them. Most of my colleagues send between 50-100 cards every year.


You can drop the New Year postcards into a special box at the post office before 28 Dec and all the postcards will be kept and delivered on 1 Jan.

Each postcard has a serial number printed on it. After New Year's, the post office will conduct some kind of lottery and publish the results in the newspapers. Recipients of cards with the lucky numbers can claim their prizes from the post office.

良いお年を！ Happy New Year!