Japanese people have a custom of sending postcards to their friends, acquaintances, colleagues, supervisors at work, or even their family members or relatives who live apart.

New Year’s cards dropped into mailboxes by December 25 are supposed to be delivered on January 1, so I should work on my postcards in a few days!!!

Most mailboxes in major cities in Japan have “two entry openings” for mail to be dropped in; one is for smaller envelopes or cards, and the other is for bigger envelopes, as you can see in the photo below.

But during the New Year’s card season from December 15 to January 7, the smaller opening of the mailbox is used for New Year’s cards only, and the other one is used for ordinary mail.



Please look at the photo above.

The yellow label below the smaller entry opening says “New Year’s Cards Only.”

By the way, New Year’s cards issued by the Japanese post office have “lottery numbers” on them.

Winners will receive cash, food, home electronics, etc., but unfortunately, I have never won anything more expensive than just “a sheet of postal stamps.”

New Year’s cards usually have motifs of one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals.
(You can learn a little more about the “Chinese Zodiac” animals here.)

The animal for the year 2022 is “tiger.”

You can also buy pre-printed New Year’s cards at stationery stores, grocery stores, convenience stores, printing service shops, etc.

This traditional custom of sending New Year’s cards, however, is getting less popular in recent years.

This is because writing New Year’s cards is no easy task for busy people, especially at the busy year-end time of the year.

As for me, I think I will continue sending New Year’s cards to my friends for a while, because I just enjoy writing cards, and also, it is really nice to receive cards from my friends.