年賀状 (New Year Cards)
I have probably written my own address down more times yesterday and today than over the rest of 2009, thanks to the Japanese tradition of sending New Year Cards. People in the West send Christmas greetings cards too, to friends and family, and perhaps superiors at work. In Japan however, it seems to be important to send cards to all and sundry - particularly if you are high up in the hierarchy - so much so that people buy stacks of pre-made postcards, print exactly the same picture and message on them, and send them out. One of the ladies at my local post office even told me that someone had brought 50 postcards back because he/she hadn't needed to use them all...(I'd had to go and exchange a few postcards which I'd made errors on...)
Ideally, they should arrive on the first day of the new year. Japan's post offices were advertising guaranteed delivery on the 1st if you got them in by the 25th of this month, though some of my teachers were saying that posting them by today is possibly fine too. If you get a postcard, the custom is to write a reply, so behind-the-scenes at the post office should be very hectic for the next 10 days or so.
This year, I've written 15 postcards, mostly to superiors and other Japanese friends/colleages I feel I need to thank. (None for JETs though...we just don't do this, thank goodness!!) I think it's slightly more than in previous years, which I always dashed off before going on holiday somewhere (thus never hitting the delivery time problem), but I'm sure I'll have to send a few more in the new year. I'm always missing people who send cards to me - even looking through my cards from previous years, I think I might not have written one reply...to a teacher in a department where the Japanese hierarchy and traditions are very important.
Oh dear...
p.s. Dad, that may be one of the reasons your friend in Kyoto sent you a Christmas card year after year.
Ideally, they should arrive on the first day of the new year. Japan's post offices were advertising guaranteed delivery on the 1st if you got them in by the 25th of this month, though some of my teachers were saying that posting them by today is possibly fine too. If you get a postcard, the custom is to write a reply, so behind-the-scenes at the post office should be very hectic for the next 10 days or so.
This year, I've written 15 postcards, mostly to superiors and other Japanese friends/colleages I feel I need to thank. (None for JETs though...we just don't do this, thank goodness!!) I think it's slightly more than in previous years, which I always dashed off before going on holiday somewhere (thus never hitting the delivery time problem), but I'm sure I'll have to send a few more in the new year. I'm always missing people who send cards to me - even looking through my cards from previous years, I think I might not have written one reply...to a teacher in a department where the Japanese hierarchy and traditions are very important.
Oh dear...
p.s. Dad, that may be one of the reasons your friend in Kyoto sent you a Christmas card year after year.