Japanese New Years card (nengajou 窶扼窶ｰﾃｪﾂ湘ｳﾂ）

Back in Holland we always made cards for the winter holidays, but here in Japan we only make cards for the new year called: nengajou 窶扼窶ｰﾃｪﾂ湘ｳ. Every year there is a different animal (chinese zodiac), and 2012 will be the year of the dragon. I am trying to design my own nengajou again this year, that's why I am researching some websites where I can use images, and ideas from.

How about you, are you going to send new years cards? Do you make them yourself, or do you order them.

Some websites where you can download free images and nengajous from are these:
窶扼窶ｰﾃｪﾂ湘ｳ窶督ｳ窶板ｿ窶惑ﾂ催 2012窶扼ﾂ（窶僂ﾂ・窶堋ｽ窶堙つ）ﾆ辰ﾆ停?ｰﾆ湛ﾆ暖窶堙?弾ﾆ停?愴致ﾆ椎陳ーﾆ暖/窶扼窶ｰﾃｪﾂ湘ｳ窶督ｳ窶板ｿﾆ胆ﾆ脱ﾆ停?愴陳債ーﾆ檀 (just click on the links on the left side starting from 窶僂窶堙固ｽq)
窶督ｳ窶板ｿ窶扼窶ｰﾃｪﾂ湘ｳ2012窶扼窶堋ｽ窶堙と弾ﾆ停?愴致ﾆ椎陳ーﾆ暖ﾆ陳?男ﾆ停?ｦﾂーﾆ馳ﾂーﾆ淡
ﾃ?ｯﾂｲﾃｬﾂｾﾃｵﾃ個ｵﾃ偲???ｺﾃ? 2012ﾃ?ｯﾂ･ﾂ､ﾂ･ﾃｩﾂ･ﾂｹﾂ･ﾃ暗δ､ﾂ｡ﾃ環､ﾂｿﾂ､ﾃ?｡ﾃ - ﾃ?ｼﾃ凝愿?ﾂｲﾂ､ﾃｬﾂ｡ﾂ｢ﾂ､ﾂｪﾂｽﾃ仰､ﾂ､ﾂｵﾂ､ﾃ環ｬﾂ､ﾃ偲δ､

or you can order them here:
窶嚢窶｢ﾃ問?扼窶ｰﾃｪ.jp
ﾃｧ窶楪｡ﾃｦ窶凪┐ﾃ･ﾂｹ'ﾃｨﾂｳ竄ｬﾃｧﾅ?ﾂｶﾃｧ'ﾂ?ﾃｦﾂ敖静｣ﾆ陳ｻﾃ｣ﾆ停??ﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｳﾃ｣ﾆ停?氾｣ﾆ陳ｬﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｼﾃ｣ﾆ塚?｣ﾂ?ｮﾃ｣ﾆ停ぎﾃ｣窶堋ｦﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｳﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｭﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｼﾃ｣ﾆ停?ｰﾃ｣窶堋ｵﾃ｣窶堋､ﾃ｣ﾆ塚?｣竄ｬﾅ津･ﾂｹ'ﾃｨﾂｳ竄ｬﾃｧﾅ?ﾂｶACﾃ｣竄ｬﾂ梗/url]

My J wife and I send out New Year's cards, yes. We buy a catalogue from a bookstore that contains a CD which has various designs, and we customize from there. On a rare occasion we will order from a store instead.

Don't forget that if you have had a major tragedy in your immediate family (death), you are not entitled to send out the traditional cards. Instead, you should already have sent out another type of card which explains. Then, they will not lose face by sending you a card wishing you a happy new year.

Oh, and despite us thinking it is the year of the dragon, even some designs have sea horses, which are also acceptable this year.

We send out Christmas or Holiday cards but not specifically New Years cards. They go to both my side in the US and my wife's side in Japan. We always make sure they say Happy New Year though. Her relatives seem to like them, I suppose its kind of neat to get a foreign card to show around. If we lived in Japan we would most likely only send New Years cards to her side and possibly to mine depending on how hard it is to find Christmas cards and how expensive they might be. I know you can find them as we have received a few Christmas cards from Japan, just not sure how prevalent they are.

I recently gave my daughter warning not to pull her annual stunt of coming to me late in the evening of the last possible day to create and print her cards for her.

I'm not silly enough to think she'll actually heed my warning, but I gave it anyway.

I forgot to add that we send New Year's cards to people we know in Japan (including my foreign friends), but we send a handful of Christmas (or holiday season) cards to people in the U.S. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the cards sent to the U.S. are becoming fewer and fewer, as not so many people reciprocate every year.