The Internet’s done a lot of good and a lot of harm. In the “harm” category, the advent of instant worldwide communications means the traditional practice of writing someone a letter or sending them a postcard is dead or dying. A new survey shows how this has impacted the traditional Japanese custom of nengajo (年賀状), or New Year cards.
The custom of sending a postcard as an initial New Year’s greeting to family and friends dates back to the nobility of Japan’s Nara era. It took off among the populace with the introduction of the postal system between 1871 and 1873. They became even more popular when Japan Post introduced a special “nengajo stamp” specifically for New Year cards.
The practice, however, is losing its charm in the digital age. Delight, a company that specializes in consultation services to the funeral industry, ran a survey to discover how much the practice has dropped off.
(Why is a funeral company doing this survey? Good question! There are specific manners around sending nengajo to someone who’s experienced a death in the family. In Japan, someone who’s experienced a death traditionally enters a mourning period, fukumo (服喪), for one year. It’s considered rude to send a nengajo during this period. Some people opt, instead, to send an inquiry after someone’s health, or a kanchuu-mimai [寒中見舞い] card. Long story short, it’s a highly relevant topic for the funeral industry.)
62.6% of respondents won’t send New Year cards
The company surveyed 1,003 men and women ages 20 to 70. Asked if they planned to send nengajo, 62.6% of respondents said they wouldn’t.
What are people doing instead? 46.7% said they’re going to send people a message on LINE, Japan’s ubiquitous messaging app. 44% said they wouldn’t do anything, while 15% said they’d send an email.
When asked why they wouldn’t send nengajo, 64.3% said because they’d already quit sending them a while back. 14.7% said they were considering quitting this year, while another 12.1% said they were in a morning period.
As for why they quit, 43.2% of people said it reduced the work they had to do. 42.7% considered sending an email or a social media message good enough. Another 20.6% said they’re Marie Kondo-ing their interpersonal relationships.
The trend has also impacted mourning cards. 73.6% of people said they don’t send cards to announce a death in the family (喪中はがき; mochuu hagaki). Ironically, 63.7% of respondents said they learned about someone’s death through such postcards. However, over 80% said they also heard the news via LINE, phone, or email.
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