VIRTUAL GREETINGS:
A New Year Tradition Goes Online

DECEMBER 19, 1996

With their bright colors, seasonal designs, and lottery numbers, government-issued New Year cards differ from ordinary postcards sold year-round.

Once more the "nengajo" season has arrived. In Japan, this New Year exchange of missives, mostly postcards, has become a national custom. Similar to Christmas cards in function, nengajo are delivered on January 1, providing they were sent in the latter half of December as a special category of mail. In this way, the postal system supports a time-honored and uniquely Japanese tradition.

The government-issued nengajo cards go on sale toward the close of the year at post offices across the country. The number of cards sold this year is likely to exceed 4 billion for the first time, increasing by 125 million from last year to reach 4.05 billion cards; this means that every Japanese will have sent an average of 32 greetings. If cards not issued by the government are included, nearly 5 billion New Year missives will be delivered throughout the archipelago this season.

The custom of exchanging nengajo seems to have taken root immediately after the establishment of the state postal system in 1871. As early as 1899, when the post office began handling nengajo mail separately, the total number of such cards handled reached 100 million. Government-issued cards first appeared in 1950, just after World War II. They came with preprinted lottery numbers, the top prize then being a sewing machine.

During the high-growth 1960s, the highest prizes were transistor radios and TV sets; 8-millimeter projectors and collapsible bicycles became popular in the 1970s, microwave ovens in the 1980s, and tickets for overseas travel in the 1990s. Winners are apparently consulted in selecting prizes for the following year, making the nengajo prizes a good indicator of changing lifestyles. The top prize for 1997 looks to be car navigation systems.

Nengajo on the Net
Despite the expanding role of electronic telecommunication, the overwhelming majority of nengajo are still in the form of postcards. Recently, though, the nengajo format has been slowly diversifying. There has been particularly rapid growth in the number of people using e-mail to exchange New Year greetings.

The sender composes his or her nengajo on screen using text and images. The result is then transmitted from the sender's personal computer to that of the recipient. In this way, the hassle of printing and cost of postage (a typical family sends at least 100 cards) can be eliminated, and there is no need to scramble to get everything mailed by the end of the year. Computer software to create electronic nengajo is beginning to include e-mail transmission functions, and such functions are likely to become standard features in the future.

Another new development is an Internet Web site that acts as medium for the transmission and receipt of e-mail nengajo, complete with lottery numbers. One such site, which can be used by anybody free of charge, was recently set up by a leading advertising agency.

The sender accesses the home page, creates text for his or her nengajo in accordance with on-screen instructions, and types in the recipient's e-mail address. The recipient receives an e-mail notice to the effect that a nengajo has arrived, which can be read by accessing a "mail box" on the Web.

The site's lottery prizes are supplied by companies sponsoring the project; they include cars, airline tickets, and PCs. Both the sender and receiver qualify for the prizes, notification for which is, of course, made by e-mail.

With the rapid rise in the online population, New Year's greetings may increasingly be made via PC screens.