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Writing new year's greetings to my Professor (Nengajo)

seyyah

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27 Dec 2013
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Hi everyone!

It is my first time seeking help in this forum and I thank you in advance for your cooperation.

I want to send a card to my Japanese professor in Japan and I need some help. I am currently outside of Japan and I could not purchase printed Nengajo and I want to write my card in Japanese. I have never sent him a postcard before and I have not written him for a long time. I hope this card will be kind of an ice breaker and I will get back in touch with him. If you could please help me writing it, I would greatly appreciate! My questions are as follows:

1) I want to begin with "Dear Professor Suzuki," how should I say that? Is it "鈴木先生、" or "鈴木先生へ" or should I say something else? He is too 厳しい when it comes to Japanese language so if there is a formal etiquette 敬語 to address a professor in a hand-written post card, please do let me know.

2) After "Dear Professor Suzuki," I want to write something like "長らくご無沙汰しておりました。" because I really did not write to him when I was suppose to :( (So much had happened in my life, had serious health problems and got 2 medical surgeries etc.) Anyways after saying "長らくご無沙汰しておりました。" can I say something like "鈴木先生はこの間お元気でしょうか。" ? My Japanese is not good so I really am not sure if this is right way to say. He and I have a very formal relationship so saying something like "鈴木先生はこの間お元気でしょうか。" would be too friendly? I want to say something like "I hope you are good and all is well with you" but maybe writing something like this in a new year's greeting is not a good idea either, I am confused... What do you think?

3) Then I want to write general new year's greetings saying happy new year, thank you for your kind help during the past year and please continue your favor this year "新年あけましておめでとうございます。昨年は大変お世話になりありがとうございました。 今年もよろしくお願いします。" So if I use these set phrases in this order, is it correct?

4) Finally, how do I end the card? In English I would say something like "Best regards" or "Sincerely yours" and then write my name under and sign, but how should I do in Japanese?

Once again, thank you so much for your time and attention! Hope to hear from you!
 
New year's greetings should be put at the beginning of the card. I would write ;

新年あけましておめでとうございます。
昨年は大変お世話になりありがとうございました。
本年もよろしくお願い致します。
2014年 正月

鈴木先生、長らくご無沙汰しており申し訳ございません。お元気でいらっしゃいますでしょうか。

It's OK just to write your name under it. Probably he will reply your card, then you can write how you are doing in the next letter. ( I am sorry for your health problems.)
 
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