New Year's cards, Japanese nengajyou

This is an example of a nengajyou, a traditional New Year's card. It's much akin to the Christmas card, however, unlike the Xmas card, it cannot be sent out well in advance...well it can but the post office will hold onto it until the 1st. It means on January 1st, if you are lucky and have a slew of friends...you'll get tons of postcards all at once! It's rather exciting, awaiting New Year's cards and after having received them, waiting for the lottery day. The lottery day is a week or so after New Year's Day - they release a bunch of 'winning' numbers with prize. Prizes run from mere stamps...to nice electronics. If you have a winning number, you can go to the post office to get your respective prize. Last year my boyfriend's card won me a set of memorial post stamps...being the secret geeky stamp collector that I am, I was delighted at the seemingly trivial prize. ^_^ I let out a big whee with glee...oh dear, cheesy me...someone stop me!
Ack sorry 'bout my stupidity...moving on to a more serious tone. If you've experienced the passing away of a close relative, you are not allowed to send or receive cards. Before New Year's those people notify friends and acquaintances with cards which request that people abstain from sending them any 'nengajyou' cards. Two people already informed me of that. I was so sorry to hear that, therefore I decided to circumvent the policy by sending them a holiday Christmas card. It was given an okay by both parties. Hurrah~! Ah, taking what I want from either culture...it's the great advantage of living in a foreign country. Live as the Romans do but from time to time play like a rebel and still get away with it.

A different kind of carpal tunnel is on the horizon now. OUCH, my wrist hurts...I mean, it really hurts now. Not from knitting - the knitting project had to be put on a hiatus because of Xmas cards, Xmas cookies, year-end parties, New Year's cards...the list goes on and on! Anyway I just finished writing about 70 cards and have more to go. According to card sending etiquette, I have to send one to everyone and their grandma and dog. ^_^ The thing about New Year's cards is you cannot 'forget' someone without a little bit of embarrassment or last-minute scrambling. As for Christmas cards back home, it seems that there is a bit of leeway as to when it can be sent...weeks in advance, a week or two after...it's all good. As for Japanese New Year's cards...since they are delivered in one big lot on January 1st, it's sometimes obvious when one has been forgotten. Though tradition is now fading and cards are arriving later and later and people don't mind so much at all.

A few days ago I just finished designing and putting the cards together. It's in fact rather rare for people to make handmade cards these days but I'm not a big fan of cookie cutter cards made by PC topped off with a signature. Yes, it is the thought (of a real snail mail card) that counts but if that is the case, isn't an e-greeting just the same? Sorry I think my standards are set a bit high there. Ok, so getting a card PERIOD is good enough in my books.