In Japan, there’s a tradition where people exchange greeting postcards called nengajo, carefully timed to arrive on New Year’s Day.

Years ago, I used to enjoy making woodblock prints and illustrations for these cards. But the whole process - printing them and writing addresses - became incredibly tedious, and I’ve grown to despise this custom over the past few years. What’s worse, most of these cards go to distant relatives whose faces I can barely remember, or work contacts I haven’t seen in years.

Unable to make a clean break from the tradition, I’ve been lazily outsourcing everything to a printing service these past few years - from printing to mailing. It’s simple enough: pick a stock illustration and message, check off names from my saved address book, and I’m done.

But what’s the point of all this?

And in this digital age, why are we still relying on physical mail?!!!!

I ordered my New Year’s cards from the printing service again this year. However, this time I added one crucial line: “As I reach a turning point in my life, I’ll be switching to email for New Year’s greetings from next year onward.”

My Greeting Card