明けましておめでとう!

Nengajō (nengajou, ねんがじょうor 年賀状)

明けましておめでとうございます!

(Ake mashite omedetou gozaimasu!) Happy New Year!

In my Intermediate Japanese class we finally reached the end of the book. Luckily, the last thing it discussed was Nengajou. These are New Year’s greeting postcards that the Japanese send to their friends, family, coworkers, bosses, business affiliates, etc. The post offices in Japan will actually hold these postcards until New Year’s Day and deliver them all at once. People there, do get offended if you don’t send them one! It makes them feel like you no longer want any social interaction with them. On the plus side, if you don’t receive one from an individual then it is alright not to send them one again the next year. :-p In Japan these cards, when bought at a store, have a number on them for a lottery drawing. However, we can't do that with these unless you decide to send someone a scratch-off card or lottery ticket. :-p

The postcards usually celebrate the Chinese Zodiac, and 2012 is the year of the Dragon! So, feel free to use art, colors, etc. that are dragon inspired!

Alright, I know it is already December, but if you do yours quickly you can get it out before New Year’s.

In this swap you will make one Nangajou. You can make your own, buy one from the store, or just use any old regular post card if you want. It is up to you. If you want to put it in an envelope and include some goodies, then feel free to. Then, write whatever you want on it, draw, whatever. Just have fun with it, and remember to include Happy New Year!!! If you write yours in a different language, such as Japanese, please provide a translation as well. Write it on the card if you need to.

I have listed an example of what a Japanese New Year’s post card generally looks like (where to put names, addresses, the message, etc.). Again, you can make it look whatever way you want (even if it is one of those split half and half cards) as long as the post office will take it. You may have to label TO: and FROM: or something if you use this traditional Japanese format though.

This is a link to an image of the Japanese postcard layout:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b148/AshlyMayle/Access/postcard.png?t=1323369193

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