Editing Japanese New Year (section)

==Nenga==
[[File:An Instance Of New Year Card In Japan.JPG|thumbnail| {{nihongo3|||Nengajō}}, new year cards in Japan]]
The end of December and the beginning of January are the busiest for Japanese post offices. The Japanese have a custom of sending {{nihongo|New Year's Day [[postcard]]s|年賀状|nengajō}} to their friends and relatives, similar to the Western custom of sending [[Christmas card]]s. The original purpose was to give faraway friends and relatives tidings of oneself and one's immediate family— to tell those whom one did not often meet that he/she was alive and well.

Sending these greetings is timed so they will arrive on January 1. The post office guarantees delivery on that day if the cards are marked with the word ''nengajō'' and mailed between mid-December and a few days before year's end. To deliver them on time, the post office usually hires students part-time.

It is customary to refrain from sending these postcards when there has been a [[death]] in the family during the year. In this case, a family member sends a simple {{nihongo|mourning postcard|喪中葉書|mochū hagaki}} to inform friends and relatives that they should not send New Year's cards, out of respect for the deceased.

People get their ''nengajō'' from many sources. Stationers sell preprinted cards. Most of these have the [[Chinese zodiac]] sign of the New Year as their design, conventional greetings, or both. The Chinese zodiac has a cycle of 12 years. Each year is represented by an animal. The animals are, in order: [[Rat (zodiac)|Rat]], [[Ox (zodiac)|Ox]], [[Tiger (zodiac)|Tiger]], [[Rabbit (zodiac)|Rabbit]], [[Dragon (zodiac)|Dragon]], [[Snake (zodiac)|Snake]], [[Horse (zodiac)|Horse]], [[Goat (zodiac)|Goat]], [[Monkey (zodiac)|Monkey]], [[Rooster (zodiac)|Rooster]], [[Dog (zodiac)|Dog]], and [[Pig (zodiac)|Pig]]. 2020 was the year of the Rat and the most recent start of the cycle. Famous characters like [[Snoopy]], (2006) and other cartoon characters like [[Mickey Mouse|Mickey]] and [[Minnie Mouse]], (2008) have been especially popular in their celebrated years.

Addressing is generally done by hand, and is an opportunity to demonstrate one's handwriting (see ''[[shodō]]''). The postcards may have spaces for the sender to write a personal message. Blank cards are available, so people can hand-write or draw their own. Rubber stamps with conventional messages and with the annual animal are for sale at department stores and other outlets, and many people buy [[ink brushes]] for personal greetings. Special printing devices are popular, especially among people who practice crafts. Computer software also lets artists create and print their own designs. Very social individuals, who have hundreds of cards to write, may go to print shops and choose from a wide variety of cards prepared with short messages, so the sender only has to address them. Despite the omnipresence of email, the ''nengajō'' remains very popular, although the younger generation sends hardly any cards. They prefer to exchange digital greetings via mobile phones, and in recent years the wider society gradually has come to accept digital greetings.

Conventional greetings include:
*{{nihongo3|' I hope for your favor again in the coming year'|今年もよろしくお願いします|kotoshi mo yoroshiku o-negai-shimasu}}
*{{nihongo3|'Happiness to you on the dawn [of a New Year]'|(新年)あけましておめでとうございます|(shinnen) akemashite o-medetō-gozaimasu}}
*{{nihongo3|' Happy New Year'|謹賀新年|kinga shinnen}}
*{{nihongo3|to celebrate January|賀正|gashō}}
*{{nihongo3|' early spring'; in the traditional lunar calendar a year begins in early spring|初春|shoshun/hatsuharu}}
*{{nihongo3|to welcome spring|迎春|geishun}}