Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards:

Christmas cards are like New Year’s cards for Japanese – a way to keep in touch with people we don’t see often, but also to all our friends and colleagues. What is different to Japanese New Year’s cards is that they are delivered at various times throughout December, not at Christmas. They are usually displayed as part of the Christmas decorations. A long piece of cotton is pinned to the wall in the living room and the cards are hung over it. Most families have many lines of cards hanging, all over the living room.

One language point for Japanese is that we write on the card ‘Merry Christmas and a happy new year’, but if you send Japanese new year’s cards written in English it should say ‘Happy New Year’, and not ‘A Happy New Year’. ‘I hope you have a happy new year’ is OK.

欧米人にとってクリスマスカードは、日本人の年賀状のようなもので、友人、同僚、親戚はじめ、日頃疎遠になっている人達にも送ります。家庭では、クリスマスデコレーションの一部として、リビングルームの壁に長いひもを張り、送られて来たカードを全て吊るします。（多いと華やかで嬉しいのですが、少ないとすこし寂しいです）補足ですが、年賀状でA Happy New Year と印刷されたものがありますが、正しくは、Happy New Year です。’Merry Christmas and a happy new year’ や、‘I hope you have a happy new year’ はOKです。