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When I was walking the streets of Yokohama today, I didn't see very many signs of Christmas. What I did notice, however, was a couple of signs of the approach of New Year.
Outside the post office, there were banners reminding us that this is the nengajō season, and I passed a two-slot post office box (a box for people to use to mail letters) which had one of its slots (the one on the left) dedicated to the collection of New Year's greetings mail.
The label indicating the "New Year's Greetings Mail" slot was in Japanese kanji (Chinese characters) only. Often, bilingual signage in Japan is surprisingly good, but there are moments when it really does help to be able to read the language.
Japanese postbox
In the postbox photo above, the small yellow sign top left says "nenga yūbin" - "New Year's Greetings mail". The small sign top right says "ippan no yūbin" - "general mail". Photographed in Yokohama, 2003 December 14.
Photo above: "nenga yūbin" - "New Year's Greetings mail"
Photo above: "ippan no yūbin" - "general mail"
I was really surprised to discover the postbox above with its dedicated slot only for New Year's greetings mail. The reason for my surprise was that I've lived for six years in Japan without ever noticing this before. However, I'm told it's very much a standard thing at this time of year.
I guess I'll have to start keeping my eyes open and looking around me, instead of walking from A to B wrapped up in my own thoughts, never noticing anything en route.
for comments on New Year in Japan see:-
New Year in Japan
For stuff on the special food eaten in Japan at New Year see the entries for:-
zouni
and, at the same location:-
mochi
and, elsewhere in the same file:-
osechi ryori
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