Today I sent out our nengajou, the holiday cards that are delivered on January 1 in Japan.
I am not 100% sure that’s going to work properly for my cards this year. I didn’t buy the special pre-franked cards the post office sells, instead drawing my designs on postcards I already had on hand.
So when I got them to the post office this morning, the ladies behind the counter consulted. “Oh, these are nengajou? But they don’t have 年賀はがきprinted on them. And you wrote the addresses the Western way. Your return address isn’t vertical. Hmmm. What to do?”
In the end, I was made to write POSTCARD on the top of each card. After that, they counted out the holiday stamps and assured me they would be treated as new years mail.
I had to scratch my head because of all the things they pointed out, the postcard-ness of the mail was most in question? I dunno. I have stopped asking why the post office ladies require me to jump through hoops for them. They are sweet and really seem to want my mail to succeed. I just do whatever they say. I had to trim an edge off the card one year.
So if you are in Japan and get my nengajou early or late, well, this is why. Overseas addresses get their cards in envelopes and they will arrive whenever the mail gets them there. Maybe before the new year. Or not.
I am one year away from finishing a twelve-year cycle of elephant + zodiac animal themed new year cards I think of as the NengaZOU. This year is elephant + dragon. If you are getting a card, its on its way. If not, stick around until January 1st when I will post the card for everyone.
