All our members from Hyogo Tourism Association would like to wish you a happy New Year!
We’ll do our very best to continue providing lots of interesting and useful information about Hyogo to people all over the world! So please keep on supporting our TID Blog, Go! Go! Hyogo!, as well as our website and us!.
(Year 2011 New Year’s Card from TID!)
Today, I would like to introduce you the culture of the Japanese New Year’s card.
The New Year’s card is a greeting card with a New Year’s message, received on New Year’s Day.
In Japan
This tradition originated because people used to have difficulties visiting people for the New Year, so people tend to include short messages about themselves and how they are doing. It's not uncommon for people to spend hours writing fifty to one hundred New Year's card every year. Using computers to print out the cards has become popular in recent years, but there are many people who still write them by hand to show the receivers their appreciation.
This beautiful bird pictured in the above New Year’s card is the Oriental White Stork (Konotori). This prefectural bird, also designated as a national protected species, is said to bring good fortune, and is loved by people in the prefecture.
That’s all for the first TID blog of 2011. We wish you have a great and prosperous year!
For More information on Oriental White Storks↓
Hyogo Prefectural Homeland for the Oriental White Stork
Ｓｏｏ (Hyogo Tourism Association)