Nengajo Japanese New Year cards © NSW Department of Education and Communities, 2013 Funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment.

NengajoJapanese New Year cards

© NSW Department of Education and Communities, 2013Funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace

Relations through the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program.

Nengajo• New Year is a very special holiday in Japan. People visit

relatives, neighbours, friends and colleagues – anyone who has done favours for them throughout the year. People also send out postcards, which are all delivered on New Year’s Day.

• The cards may include information about what people have been doing and what their new year’s resolutions are. You may also see the phrase Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu (Happy New Year).

Nengajo• The cards are decorated with coloured paints, black ink, paper

cutouts, etc. Recently, people have started creating cards with their computers, incorporating photographs and other images.

• Popular images include animals from the Chinese zodiac, which moves in a 12 year cycle.

Chinese zodiac animals

• 2010 Tiger• 2011 Rabbit• 2012 Dragon• 2013 Snake• 2014 Horse• 2015 Sheep• 2016 Monkey• 2017 Rooster• 2018 Dog• 2019 Pig• 2020 Rat

Activity• Look at the nengajo on the following slides.• What sort of images and/or information do you see

on the postcards?• Make a nengajo to send to a classmate next year.

Include the appropriate zodiac animal and the phrase Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu! (Happy New Year!)

• Find out more at http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/calendar/december/nengajo.html

nengajo, by James Kilfiger CC BY 2.0

2010-nengajyo, courtesy of Renfield Kuroda