Photo by Susann Schuster on Unsplash
Every December, Japan’s post offices turn into greeting-card factories. Mail carriers deliver tens of millions of nengajo — New Year’s postcards — timed to land in mailboxes on exactly January 1st, and tucked into the corner of nearly every one is a string of numbers that functions like a free lottery ticket. If you’re in Japan over the New Year holiday, buying, writing, and even winning with a nengajo is one of the most approachable seasonal traditions a visitor can actually participate in.
What a Nengajo Actually Is
A nengajo is a postcard sent to wish someone a happy new year, traditionally mailed in mid-to-late December so Japan Post can hold and deliver the entire pile on January 1st. The custom replaces the in-person New Year’s greetings that were once standard — instead of visiting every relative, coworker, and business contact in person, people send cards. Companies send them to clients, teachers send them to students, and families send them to relatives they haven’t seen since Obon.
The cards themselves are usually a postcard-sized piece of stock (not a folded card) featuring the zodiac animal of the coming year, New Year’s imagery like sunrises or pine branches, or a family photo if it’s a personal card. 2027 is the Year of the Sheep (Hitsuji-doshi) in the Japanese zodiac cycle, so most designs released in autumn 2026 will feature sheep motifs.
Where and When to Buy Them
Japan Post sells official nengajo postcards (called o-toshidama-tsuki nenga hagaki, literally “New Year’s cards with a lottery prize attached”) starting in early November each year, with sales continuing through late December. You can buy them at any post office counter, at convenience stores like 7-Eleven and Lawson, and at stationery shops and supermarkets, which often stock pre-printed designs alongside blank ones.
- Blank official postcard: around 85 yen per card (price is tied to the standard postcard postage rate, so buying the card already includes postage).
- Pre-printed designs (available at convenience stores, Loft, Tokyu Hands, or post office counters): typically 100–200 yen each depending on the design and whether it includes photo-printing options.
- Custom photo cards ordered through post office kiosks, camera shops like Kitamura, or online printing services: often 150–300 yen per card depending on the paper and printing quality, with per-card prices dropping for larger orders.
If you want nice stationery to hand-write a few cards yourself, department store stationery floors and specialty shops carry high-quality pens and brush markers suited to New Year’s calligraphy — the same shops that stock items covered in our guide to Japan’s stationery obsessions are a good place to browse for a fountain pen or fine-tip brush pen to write with.
The Mailing Deadline That Actually Matters
Japan Post’s official cutoff for guaranteed January 1st delivery is typically December 25th. Mail a nengajo by that date into any red postbox or post office, and it will sit in a special holding queue so carriers can deliver the entire backlog on New Year’s morning instead of trickling cards out over several days. Drop a card in the mail after December 25th and it will likely still arrive within the first few days of January, just not exactly on the 1st — which is considered slightly less polite but far from a disaster for casual acquaintances.
One common mistake tourists make is assuming any postbox works the same way year-round — it doesn’t matter which box you use, but it does matter that the postmark date falls before the cutoff, so don’t wait until December 24th evening and hope for the best.
The Lottery Numbers: How They Work
This is the part most visitors never discover. Every official Japan Post nengajo carries a unique lottery number printed in a small box, usually in the bottom corner. In mid-January, Japan Post holds a nationwide drawing (the results are published on their website and in newspapers), and winning numbers are matched against every card mailed that season.
Prizes have varied slightly by year but have historically included:
- Grand prize: cash or a gift set worth around 300,000–500,000 yen for the rarest matching digits (first prize winners are extremely few, often fewer than one per million cards).
- Lower-tier prizes: regional specialty goods, electronics, or travel vouchers for mid-tier matches.
- Consolation prize: the most common win by far is a set of 52-yen or 62-yen commemorative postage stamps, awarded for matching just the last two digits — a huge number of cards win this every year.
To check your card, go to the Japan Post website (post.japanpost.jp) in mid-to-late January, search for “お年玉付き年賀はがき” (toshidama-tsuki nengahagaki) results, and compare your card’s number against the published winning numbers. If you win, you typically redeem the prize at a post office counter by a stated deadline, usually mid-to-late July — bring the winning postcard itself, since that’s your ticket.
Sending Nengajo as a Visitor
You don’t need to be fluent in Japanese to participate. If you’ve made a friend, host family, homestay coordinator, or business contact during a trip, sending a nengajo from abroad (or buying one in Japan before you fly home and mailing it from there) is a genuinely appreciated gesture. A few practical notes:
- Keep the message short — a simple “あけましておめでとうございます” (Happy New Year) plus a line wishing them well for the coming year is standard and sufficient.
- Avoid sending a nengajo to someone who has had a death in the family within the past year; etiquette calls for a separate, more subdued card called mochu hagaki instead, or no card at all. If you’re unsure, it’s safer to simply skip sending one that year.
- If you’re mailing from outside Japan, note that international postage rates apply and the January 1st delivery guarantee only applies to cards mailed within Japan’s domestic system — budget extra transit time.
The custom sits in the same family of seasonal gift obligations as Japan’s twice-a-year corporate gifting rounds — if that side of the culture interests you, our guide to Oseibo and Ochugen gift-giving seasons covers the similar logic behind those exchanges.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Buying cards too late: post offices sometimes sell out of popular pre-printed designs by mid-December, especially zodiac-themed ones. Shop in early December for the best selection.
- Forgetting the lottery number entirely: many tourists toss the card after reading the message. If you receive a nengajo as a souvenir or gift, hold onto it until the mid-January drawing results are out — it costs nothing to check.
- Writing in pen that smears: if hand-writing cards, test your pen on the card stock first; some glossy photo-finish cards resist standard ballpoint ink.
- Needing cash for stamps or printing services: post office and convenience store card purchases are simple cash-or-card transactions, but if you’re short on yen, convenience store ATMs are the easiest fix — see our rundown of 7-Bank ATMs at 7-Eleven for the most tourist-friendly cash withdrawal option in Japan.
Budget-wise, a handful of nengajo as souvenirs or gifts costs next to nothing — a few hundred yen total — making this one of the cheapest, most authentic cultural souvenirs you can bring home from a winter trip to Japan.