Nengajo Yubin Tokubetsu Toriatsukai Kaishi-bi (Start of Special New Year Postcard Handling)

What Is This Day?

December 15th marks the start of Japan Post's "special handling" of New Year's postcards, or nengajo. Cards sent under this system are set aside from ordinary mail and delivered together on New Year's Day. The date of the anniversary goes back to 1906, when the special handling period was fixed as December 15th to 29th and post offices nationwide began accepting New Year's cards.

A Meiji-Era Promise: Delivery on January 1st

• 1871: Japan's modern postal system begins. New Year's greetings move from messengers to the mail, and year-end volumes spike.
• December 1899: Special handling starts at designated high-volume post offices. Cards posted between December 20th and 30th were postmarked January 1st.
• 1905: The service expands nationwide; the following year the Nengajo Special Mail Regulations formalize it.
• December 1949: The first otoshidama nengajo -- New Year's postcards carrying lottery numbers -- go on sale. The idea came not from the ministry but from Masaji Hayashi, a Kyoto resident who ran a Western clothing and accessories business in Osaka. The special prize that first year was a sewing machine; first prize was pure wool suiting cloth and second prize a child's baseball glove.

The Schedule Has Changed for the 2027 Season

In an announcement dated August 31, 2026, Japan Post pushed back both key dates for the 2027 New Year season: acceptance now opens on December 20th (previously December 15th), and the recommended posting date for delivery on January 1st moves to December 27th (previously December 25th). Sales run until January 15th, and New Year's mail will also be delivered on January 3rd. The change answers two complaints -- that late December leaves no time, and that cards sell out before people can reply -- and it means the anniversary's date and the actual opening date no longer coincide.

Sixteen Straight Years of Decline

Japan Post's initial print run for 2027 nengajo is 560 million cards, about 74.3 percent of the 750 million printed for 2026 -- the sixteenth consecutive annual decline. Greetings by messaging app and social media are now routine, and more people each year formally announce a nengajo-jimai, retiring from the custom. Japan Post's counter-argument is that a card you can hold onto carries a different kind of value; alongside its 2027 slogan it offers pre-printed "easy nengajo" that need only a handwritten line.

Tips for Marking This Day

• List the people who helped you this year and decide who will get a card
• Check whether any mochu hagaki (mourning notices) have arrived; if you are in mourning yourself, these are usually sent in November or early December
• Plan to add one handwritten line even to a printed card
• For people you have decided not to write to, consider a mid-winter greeting or a message in January instead

Nearly 120 Years of Keeping One Promise

Special handling for New Year's mail has been kept up for almost 120 years. The numbers are falling, but the small pleasure of checking the mailbox on New Year's morning has not changed. December 15th is a fitting day to think back over the connections the year brought you.