FUKUOKA -- New Year's greeting cards for 2025 have begun to be sold in Japan. With a postage rate increase last month, regular cards now cost 85 yen (around 55 cents), up from 63 yen. How will this affect one of the country's New Year traditions?

At Fukuoka Chuo Post Office in the city of Fukuoka's Chuo Ward, where New Year's cards decorated with snakes for next year's Chinese zodiac sign were on display, Yoko Kawano, a 63-year-old gallery owner visiting from neighboring Minami Ward, told the Mainichi Shimbun that she wondered whether to send out New Year's cards for the coming year due to the price increase. Although she has reduced the number of cards she sends out, she still mails about 70 every year. "I feel relieved when I receive New Year's cards from people such as my friends. I would be sad if I stopped sending them, so I want to keep doing it," she said.

The initial number of New Year's cards issued continues to decline after peaking at about 4.46 billion for 2004, and 2025's batch is expected to decrease by about 25% from the previous year to about 1.07 billion, the largest drop ever, due to the expected fall in demand resulting from the price hike. Japan Post Co. is trying to stimulate demand by introducing a new lineup with a choice of gifts, but many have stopped the custom by writing on their cards, "I will no longer greet you with New Year's cards after this year."

The companies responsible for printing such cards are likely to be affected. Nishinihon Business Insatsu, a printing company in Fukuoka's Chuo Ward, usually prints around 150,000 New Year's cards with orders from all over the country. However, its chairperson Keiichi Sonoda, 77, said, "We have no idea by how much the number will decrease this year." The company intends to stock up on cards while keeping an eye on orders.

Amid such a situation, some researchers are focusing on the benefits of New Year's cards. Ikuko Sugawara, a professor of social psychology at Musashino University who is familiar with social relations among the elderly, pointed out that "it is important for the elderly to have a loose connection with others, even if it is only a once-a-year or so exchange." As long as they maintain these connections, they can contact each other immediately when they have time or have plans for a reunion and help each other out. Having many such options apparently has a stronger effect on their sense of well-being than having only a few acquaintances with whom they have deep ties.

"In this day and age, there is a trend toward ceasing relationships, but if you sever all ties at once, you will lose the people you wanted to stay connected with," said Sugawara. "In fact, it is cost-effective to communicate once a year, at a fixed time and in a fixed way. Don't worry about the wording of your greeting, but just tell them a few words about what you've been up to."

(Japanese original by Hibiki Yamaguchi and Masanori Hirakawa, Kyushu News Department)