What do people get wrong about Japanese seasonal greetings and the letter calendar?
This answer is a draft. It stays unpublished until legal review and source verification are complete.
Japan still sends paper: New Year cards in the billions, mid-summer greetings, thank-you notes for gifts, and formal letters that open with a line about the weather. Visitors see quaint stationery; residents see a calendar of obligations with fixed phrases and deadlines — and a system that is shrinking but not gone.
The calendar
| Greeting | When | Deadline / rule | Volume or note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nengajō (New Year card) | Arrives 1 January | Post by 25 December for delivery on New Year's Day; not sent to a household in mourning (they send a mochū-hagaki in November–December) | About 1.1 billion for 2025, down from 4.4 billion in 2003 |
| Kanchū-mimai (midwinter greeting) | 8 January – 3 February | For late replies and to mourning households | — |
| Shochū-mimai (midsummer greeting) | From the end of the rainy season / early July to about 7 August (Risshū) | Postcards with summer motifs; "Are you bearing the heat?" | Declining but persistent |
| Zansho-mimai (late-summer greeting) | 8 August – end of August | Same card, different heading — sending "shochū" after Risshū is a known error | — |
| Ochūgen / oseibo thank-you | Within a few days of receiving a gift | A phone call or card; the return gift (okaeshi) is not required for these seasonal gifts | See the gift article |
| Thank-you for a wedding/funeral gift | Within a month | With the return gift (hangaeshi) | — |
| Formal letter opening (kisetsu no aisatsu) | Any formal letter | A weather phrase for the month (e.g. "In this season of fresh greenery…" for May) followed by an inquiry after the recipient's health | Lists exist for all 12 months; business email uses shorter fixed forms ("Osewa ni natte orimasu") |
- Japan Post's nengajō stamps (with a lottery number) go on sale 1 November; cards posted 15–25 December are held and delivered on 1 January. The "otoshidama lottery" on the stamp number pays small prizes.
- The mourning notice (mochū-hagaki) tells friends not to send a New Year card that year; the etiquette is to send a kanchū-mimai in January instead.
- Digital shift: LINE New Year stickers and messages now dominate among under-40s; companies have largely stopped corporate nengajō since 2020. The phrases survive in messages.
[Verify] Nengajō volumes with Japan Post; the Risshū date (7 or 8 August) varies by year with the JMA's calendar.
Misunderstanding 1｜Any time in January is fine for a New Year card
Arriving on 1 January is the point; post by 25 December. After 7 January, it becomes a kanchū-mimai with different wording.
Misunderstanding 2｜Summer greetings are one thing
Shochū-mimai until Risshū (about 7 August), zansho-mimai after. Sending the wrong one is the kind of error a careful sender notices.
Misunderstanding 3｜Send New Year cards to everyone you know
Not to a household that has had a death that year — they will have sent a mourning notice. Send a midwinter greeting in January instead.
Misunderstanding 4｜The weather opening is filler
It is the required first line of a formal letter, chosen for the month from a conventional list, and its absence reads as brusque. Business email has its own fixed opener instead.
Misunderstanding 5｜Paper greetings are dead
1.1 billion cards is a lot of dead. The volume has fallen 75% in twenty years, but the calendar and the phrases have moved into messaging; knowing them still matters.
---
Sources
- Japan Post — New Year cards: sale dates, posting deadlines and volumes (年賀はがき)
https://www.post.japanpost.jp/
- Agency for Cultural Affairs — Japanese letter-writing conventions and seasonal words (季語・時候の挨拶)
https://www.bunka.go.jp/
- Japan Meteorological Agency — Calendar of the 24 solar terms (二十四節気) including Risshū
https://www.jma.go.jp/
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
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