Japanese festivals
immediate family. In other words, this custom existed for people to tell others whom they did
not often meet that they were alive and well.
Japanese people send these postcards so that they arrive on the 1st of January. The post office
guarantees to deliver the greeting postcards by the first of January if they are posted within a
time limit, from mid-December to near the end of the month and are marked with the word
nengajo. To deliver these cards on time, the post office usually hires students part-time to help
deliver the letters.
It is customary not to send these postcards when one has had a death in the family during the
year. In this case, a family member sends a simple postcard to inform friends and relatives
they should not send New Year's cards, out of respect for the deceased.
People get their nengaj from many sources. Stationers sell preprinted cards. Most of these
annaabi.ee 
