The end of the year is a busy season everywhere around the world. In Japan, as in many Asian countries, it becomes even busier thanks to the custom of writing New Year's cards, or 年賀状 (nengajō) as they are called here.

Though few people I know seem to be particularly enthusiastic about the required preparations (design the cards, determine who to drop or add on one's list of addressees, keep track of address changes, bereavements, etc.), virtually everyone is looking forward to finding this lovely little rubber-banded deck of cards in their mailbox on the very first day of the new year.

While the advancement of communication over the Internet has led to a significant decrease in the number of card sales, there can be no doubt that the custom of nengajō writing is still very much alive and kicking. According to Japan Post, in 2015 a total of more than 3 billion cards were issued nationwide. This is an average of 23.8 cards per person, including newborns and all other non- or pre-literate citizens.