'So old-fashioned': Japan's New Year card tradition fast declining in age of messaging apps

Around 743 million New Year greeting cards, or nengajo, were delivered across Japan on Monday, although that figure is down nearly 16 per cent from the number delivered on the first day of 2023, continuing the gradual decline of a tradition that can be traced as far back as the Nara period some 1,300 years ago.

Post workers on motorcycles were given a rousing send-off from major cities' main post offices early in the day, another long-standing convention, with some dressed in historical postmen's uniforms. But with fewer New Year cards being sent, many found their bags lighter than in previous years.

"I did not send any cards this year because it is just a nuisance," said Makoto Hosomura, who lives in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, who retired this year from a career in the wine importing business.

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"In the past, I had to print out more than a hundred cards because it's polite and expected in business," he told This Week in Asia. "Then I had to write a personal message on each one, thanking all these contacts for their business in the last year and adding something about looking forward to an even better year ahead.

"Some years it took me days to do it all, and then there was a problem if I forgot to send one to a customer and I would have to rush around on January 1, after I'd received their card, and print one out, write a message and get it in the post as quickly as possible so it would arrive the next day," he said.

"I retired this year, so I no longer need to stay in touch with those business contacts. So we decided to not send any cards this year and only send a few to personal friends and family members from January 1," he said. "In truth, it has been a relief not to be stressed with the obligation of sending so many cards."

New Year's greetings were first exchanged between the Japanese nobility in the Nara period and spread among the upper classes and businesspeople over the following centuries as a way of passing on a seasonal message to people who lived far away. The subsequent establishment of a postal system enabled the common people to send similar messages, although it was not until the first official New Year postcards were issued in 1873 that the concept really caught on.

By the turn of the century, exchanging New Year cards was an integral part of the season and demand was so high that certain post offices were designated as being solely for nengajo in the run-up to the end of the year.

Technology in recent decades has allowed families to design and print at home their personalised New Year cards, although it also appears that technology may be the cause of the tradition's decline.

Stationery firm Pilot started an annual survey of New Year cards in 1979, with the number of people planning to send at least one card peaking at 96.9 per cent of the entire nation in 2001. In its most recent survey of 400 people, just 43.8 per cent said they would be sending cards this year, the first time the figure has fallen below 50 per cent.

Asked why they are not sending a card, 61 per cent said they preferred to send messages through apps such as Line, while 32.7 per cent preferred to put a message on their Facebook or Instagram page instead. Permitted to give multiple reasons, 45.7 per cent of respondents said preparing the cards was "bothersome", while 26.9 per cent said they just never bothered to send cards.

Perhaps surprisingly, just over 55 per cent said they hoped that the tradition of sending cards to mark the New Year would continue.

"I did not send any cards this year and I do not expect to receive any," said Emi Izawa, 21, a student at a university in Tokyo. "I keep in touch with my friends and family through Line or Instagram, and that is how I sent messages this year. That is how all my friends sent New Year greetings because cards are so old-fashioned.

"It also takes a lot of time and effort to make cards, write a message and then go to the post office to send them," she said. "I have a part-time job and I don't have time to do all that. Cards are inconvenient, and it has basically become an obligation or a duty, so it's not fun at all."

Those attitudes were echoed by comments on the website of CBC Television, which reported on the declining number of cards being sent this year.

"I think connections and greetings between people are important, but let's stop wasting so much effort and resources on delivering single pieces of paper," read one message. Another stated, "Please abolish New Year's cards. I only received one email message this year."

Others, however, say it is a shame that the tradition is fading.

"We had a holiday just before New Year, so things were really busy, but I still found time to write my cards," said Takako Tomura, a housewife from Yokohama. "I think it's a nice thing to do, to think about other people at this time of year and to send them a personal message.

"It doesn't take that long and I know I appreciate it when I receive a card from an old friend."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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