What Size and Format Is a Nengajo?

The physical shape of a nengajo

A nengajo is a postcard, not a folded card in an envelope. That single fact drives almost everything else about its format: it travels open-faced, both sides are used, and it mails at postcard rates rather than letter rates. If you're used to American greeting cards, the nengajo will feel compact — it's a standard Japanese postcard, noticeably smaller than a typical US greeting card, and it is never enveloped.

Official cards vs. plain postcards

Most nengajo sent inside Japan are the official New Year postcards issued by Japan Post each season. These come with the postage pre-printed and a lottery number strip along the bottom — a feature dating to the introduction of lottery-prize New Year postcards in 1949, as documented by the Postal Museum Japan. (What are those numbers for?)

The official cards are sold in several surface finishes suited to different production methods: plain stock for handwriting or laser printing, and coated versions made for home inkjet printers, including a glossier grade aimed at photo printing. Which one you want depends entirely on how you plan to produce the card — hand-drawn, home-printed, or photo-printed.

You can also send a nengajo on an ordinary private postcard. In that case you affix postage yourself; postcards and letters are priced as separate categories on Japan Post's domestic postage list, so if your card is an unusual size, shape, or thickness, check which category it actually falls into before buying stamps. Our page on nengajo postage cost walks through the pricing.

Which side is which

A nengajo has a strict front and back:

• The address side carries the recipient's address and name, the postage (pre-printed or stamped), and your own address, usually smaller. Conventions here matter — honorifics, name order, placement — and are covered in how to address a nengajo.
• The message side carries the design and greeting: the big seasonal phrase, the year's zodiac animal, the date, and a short personal line. See what the greetings mean before you copy one.

Orientation: vertical or horizontal

Traditional nengajo are composed vertically (tategaki), with text running top-to-bottom and right-to-left — the classical Japanese writing orientation. Horizontal layouts are also common now, especially for photo cards and Western-style designs, and neither is wrong. A rough rule of thumb: formal cards to seniors, teachers, or business contacts lean traditional and vertical; casual cards to friends and family go wherever the design takes them. Nippon.com's overview of nengajo shows how zodiac imagery and family photos dominate modern designs.

If you buy the wrong format

Because the official cards are a dated, season-specific product, people regularly end up with leftovers — the wrong finish, a misprint, or cards that can't be sent because a death in the family put the household in mourning. Japan Post has an official process for exchanging unused New Year's postcards, so a format mistake isn't money simply thrown away — check the current conditions on that page before assuming a card is a loss.