Sales of New Year’s postcards begin

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:44 JST, November 1, 2022

Sales of New Year’s postcards for 2023 began at post offices nationwide on Tuesday.

At the Kyoto Central Post Office in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, two geisha apprentices, 20-year-old Kanasue and 17-year-old Kanatomo, participated in a ceremony for the first day of sales.

They performed an elegant dance and called out to customers, saying, “Please mail [your New Year’s postcards] early.” They also handed out rabbit ornaments, as the rabbit is the Chinese zodiac sign for the coming year.

Due to increased social media usage and other factors, post offices have ordered about 10% fewer New Year’s postcards than they did last year, or about 1.64 billion cards in total. This was the twelfth consecutive year the figure declined.