Sending nengajō (new year cards) is as synonymous with end of year traditions as osechi (new year food) and NHK’s “Kohaku Uta Gassen” on New Year’s Eve.
However, these annual greetings have been falling out of favor in recent years as people have increasingly opted to extend their best wishes for the year ahead through email or social media. The truly busy can even outsource the entire process to online printing companies and have everything completed in a couple of clicks (provided they have the names and addresses at their fingertips).
In 2004, around 4.45 billion new year cards were delivered nationwide. By January 2020, this figure had shrunk to less than half of that.