While many people around the world are currently enjoying the gleeful Christmas season (or perhaps, more appropriately, the Christmas shopping season), we here in Japan are now in the midst of the slightly less-enjoyable nengajo-writing season. Nengajo are special New Year’s postcards that people send out to literally everyone they know, and are delivered on the morning of the first day of the new year.

Commonly decorated with images of the Chinese zodiac character of the upcoming year (2005 is the year of the rooster), they usually contain messages expressing appreciation for kindness received during the past year and well-wishing for the year ahead. Like the distribution of Valentine’s Day cards in elementary school classrooms throughout North America, innumerable acres of forest are destroyed each year as a result of this ultimately frivolous custom.

In order to ensure timely delivery on January 1st, nengajo must be deposited at the post office by December 25th, however, since I will be returning to California long before then, I have just three days to write out approximately 40 more of those dastardly cards. With such little time, I’m seriously tempted to just print this out and send it off. I wonder if anyone would even give it a second glance.