Did you know that in Japan, it's a common tradition to send new year’s greeting cards to friends and family? Known as "nengajyo" or "nengajo", the practice dates as far back as the Heian-era (794-1185).
Travel writer Lam Ching Fu, who wrote the My Journey By Bus book series, first encountered nengajyo as a Japanese language student in Osaka, Japan, back in 2002.
Inspired by the practice, he kickstarted the MyNengajyo Project in 2021, where people can create their own nengajyo and he would mail them out.
Lam, also known as Fufu, shares how the project began—he was approached by the editor of Senyum, a free Japanese magazine in Malaysia, to write an article on Japanese culture or tradition for the December 2021 issue.
"I immediately thought of nengajyo, as December is typically the month that the Japanese will write and send out their nengajyo. Once I finished writing the article, I thought it would be a good idea to share the tradition of nengajyo with Malaysians, giving them the chance to send messages to their loved ones through a new year’s postcard,” says Lam.
“I was encouraged to continue this project year after year after seeing some people crying while writing out messages on their nengajyo, as well as the number of young people who showed interest in it – I always thought they preferred texting on their phones,” he adds.
Make your own nengajyo
Lam creates his own stamps for the nengajyo postcards, modifying icons and designs that are available on the Internet.
“I almost spent RM1,000 customising these stamps,” says Lam, who even gives the postcards a localised twist, tying the annual designs to the Chinese zodiac.
For this year’s MyNengajyo Project, the stamps honour the Year of the Snake, with over 70 designs to choose from.
Throughout last December, Lam had a small exhibition and nengajyo-making station at the Ilham Gallery gift shop in KL, where people sat down and made their own nengajyo for him to send out.
Some of the nengajyo cards were also exhibited, showcasing the participants' artistic creativity as they transformed the postcard-sized canvas with their imagination.
For this extended season of the project, which has included workshop visits and pop-up stations at the Sunda Shelves bookshop and Stickerrific stationery shop in Petaling Jaya in recent weeks, Lam has sent out over 1,300 nengajyos.
These postcards have reached destinations not only across Malaysia but also around the world, including Thailand, China, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Belgium, Italy, South Africa, and more.
The MyNengajyo Project pop-up at Sunda Shelves will run until Jan 25, while Stickerrific will be hosting this project until Feb 2.
While recipients are traditionally meant to receive the nengajyo on Jan 1, for the project in Malaysia carries on past Chinese New Year, so if you want to try your hand at making your own nengajyo, there’s still time.
For addresses within Malaysia, it’s RM3 to send a nengajyo, while for destinations outside of Malaysia, it’s RM4.
More info here.
