Lovely. I love this tradition! I visited Japan last year from USA and accidentally bought way too many post card stamps and ending up spending a small fortune on mail during my trip. Money well spent because buying and sending post cards is a new hobby! It brings me and my friends/family so much joy and helps me connected to folks when I’m far away from them. I’m back in Japan sending postcards everyday to folks back home. By the New Year I will be living in Japan and may have to send nengajō of my own. ☺️
I love your reply and that you send postcards to friends and family, Amy.
The time it takes to get a response to a letter or postcard — and that a postcard does not come with a requirement for a response — feels more natural and healthy than today’s expectations of an instant response to every single text.
Writing by ‘snail mail’ makes it easier to write longer messages with depth and thoughtfulness, without getting overwhelmed, while it is still possible to write shorter superficial messages too.
Made Nenganjo for the first time this year - silkscreen and etching combo - came out amazing. Ran out of time and energy to send them…but the best part? Didn’t out the year on them nor the zodiac so you better believe they can go out in the years to come - thanks for always insightful stuff Kjeld, you rock 🤘
Smart move that you didn’t put a year or a zodiac on your nengajō! I have loads of old nengajō that I couldn’t use the following years because of that…
Hope all is well backed up! I gave my 2014 MacBook Pro a holiday gift of a new battery and new speakers. I’m just keeping it backed up and nursing it along for as far as she’ll go.
I had a lot more of information, but my old computer has been crashing continuously. I had intended to post this on New Year’s Eve. Had to jettison some treasures to get the article out before it was too late.
I will publish the rest next year 😊
In 2024, the charge for a postcard rose from 63 yen to 85 yen.
In the past, when I sent them to all my customers, I used to send out thousands, so those 22 yen add up, 22,000 yen extra per thousand cards…
Lovely. I love this tradition! I visited Japan last year from USA and accidentally bought way too many post card stamps and ending up spending a small fortune on mail during my trip. Money well spent because buying and sending post cards is a new hobby! It brings me and my friends/family so much joy and helps me connected to folks when I’m far away from them. I’m back in Japan sending postcards everyday to folks back home. By the New Year I will be living in Japan and may have to send nengajō of my own. ☺️
I love your reply and that you send postcards to friends and family, Amy.
The time it takes to get a response to a letter or postcard — and that a postcard does not come with a requirement for a response — feels more natural and healthy than today’s expectations of an instant response to every single text.
Writing by ‘snail mail’ makes it easier to write longer messages with depth and thoughtfulness, without getting overwhelmed, while it is still possible to write shorter superficial messages too.
Made Nenganjo for the first time this year - silkscreen and etching combo - came out amazing. Ran out of time and energy to send them…but the best part? Didn’t out the year on them nor the zodiac so you better believe they can go out in the years to come - thanks for always insightful stuff Kjeld, you rock 🤘
Thanks for your kind words about my work, Alex!
Smart move that you didn’t put a year or a zodiac on your nengajō! I have loads of old nengajō that I couldn’t use the following years because of that…
Becoming a lost art...
I worry about that.
Mind you, many of today’s computer-template-made cards numb the mind and have nothing of the character of the cards of a century ago.
But I still hope the custom can survive.
Who knows though, perhaps this may bring true creativity back to the fore as only people who truly care about nengajō will make and send them.
That may be wishful thinking, but you're absolutely right! There's nothing quite as delightful as receiving a hand-made nengajo!
Thank you for this history-which I did not know. I love the practice of returning cards if you missed sending one to someone who sent one to you.
What is the cost these days to send a nengajo?
Hope all is well backed up! I gave my 2014 MacBook Pro a holiday gift of a new battery and new speakers. I’m just keeping it backed up and nursing it along for as far as she’ll go.
Yes, I have local and cloud backups, although the local backups are now a few days old because of the crashes.
Your 2014 MacBook Pro is even older than my 2015 iMac!
Photo scanning and editing put a lot of stress on my system — sometimes I work with photos of several gigabytes…
Let’s hope our computers will survive another year.
Thank you, Glennis.
I had a lot more of information, but my old computer has been crashing continuously. I had intended to post this on New Year’s Eve. Had to jettison some treasures to get the article out before it was too late.
I will publish the rest next year 😊
In 2024, the charge for a postcard rose from 63 yen to 85 yen.
In the past, when I sent them to all my customers, I used to send out thousands, so those 22 yen add up, 22,000 yen extra per thousand cards…
Thank you. I sent my nengajyou out just before New Year’s Eve.
Thank you for helping to keep this wonderful custom alive!