Japan Post delivers more than 1.899 billion New Year cards
TOKYO —
Japan Post said Wednesday that it delivered more than 1.899 billion “nengajo” (New Year greeting cards) nationwide on Tuesday.
The number was down 1.5% over 2011, Japan Post said. The bulk of “nengajo” are delivered on Jan 1, with the rest being delivered over the next two weeks.
Although post codes are read by computer and mail is sorted automatically nowadays, Japan Post hired legions of temp workers to deliver the cards. They can be seen whizzing around the cities on scooters, delivering cards to offices and households.
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11 Comments
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2
CherokeeMut
Santa was most impressed and would now like to have his sleigh and reindeer back.
1
Tom DeMicke
It's only a matter of time that Nengajos will be send via e-mail. I do both. Let's keep this tradition up and not let it die down.
0
edojin
I received a batch of New Year cards ... and I hope mine were delivered okay, too. But receiving and sending less every year as the action turns to e-mail.
0
Disillusioned
And, they shut down their bloody ATMs for three days without telling me! Aaaaaaargh!!!!
I also wonder how many millions of cards the staff had to buy because they couldn't sell them?
0
warnerbro
Our post office was closed on Monday, the 31st. Was that the case elsewhere? If so, that would explain at least part of the drop in card numbers.
1
JDB829
I have always enjoyed sending and receiving these !
1
Foxie
That's only 15 per person on average.
0
mitoguitarman
2 billion! And I only got 5.
1
Open Minded
This is a great tradition, especially now considering these impersonal social wishes posting. And shame on me for being to lazy to do it! Keeping lazy but sincerely: I wish you all a great 2013 year!
0
ifd66
How many were the carbon neutral/offset kind (at only an extra 5yen)?
-1
smithinjapan
I like the nengajou, and love receiving them, but part of this large number of sales is because of the system the post office has in place of having their staff sell (or buy) up to 10,000 each. I didn't send a single one this year, though received quite a few, and sent out electronically instead. It's a cute custom, and the lottery part is fun, but it's not worth the money or the time to write them (and I always wrote them by hand, never printed them).
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