Japan: focus on traditional etiquette popular greeting card culture
Japanese people are subtle and pay attention to traditional etiquette. Every New Year, they send greeting cards to express their love and blessings to their relatives and friends. According to statistics, the number of Japanese postal cards issued in recent years has remained at over 4 billion. In 2003, the number of cards issued reached a peak of 4.5 billion, an average of 38 cards per person.
In today's world of cell phones, telephones and the Internet, how is it that traditional greeting cards have such a strong vitality in Japan? In 1873, Japan Post issued its first greeting card, and after more than 100 years of cultural heritage, the Japanese postal greeting card has become a traditional New Year's custom and a special way to exchange feelings. Every Japanese family receives New Year's greetings from friends and relatives, as many as a thousand or as few as a few dozen.
Every year in December, every family in Japan buys a bundle of New Year's cards from the post office with a face value of 50 yen (about 3.3 yuan), writes a message or prints a picture of the family, and puts it in a special mail box. On the morning of January 1, the Japanese postal system holds a grand ceremony to distribute New Year's cards in Tokyo, and thousands of postal workers quickly deliver the cards to each household. Waking up in the morning to a stack of New Year's cards from friends and family has become the first thing many Japanese families do to welcome the New Year.
The Japanese people's reverence for greeting cards is due to the promotion of greeting cards by Japan Post. During the long development process, Japan Post has paid great attention to product innovation, especially in recent years the timely introduction of more technological and environmentally friendly products, which has played a huge role in promoting its business development. At the same time, in order to facilitate the public to purchase and send greeting cards, Japan Post has established a variety of distribution channels to provide convenient greeting card services to the public. In 2009, a 20.5-meter tall post box was erected in front of the Roppongi New Town Mori Building in Tokyo to encourage people to send greeting cards and to facilitate the delivery of greeting cards by postmen before the New Year, making the giant post box a beautiful sight for the New Year.
UK: Greeting cards are a necessity of life
Greeting cards are called greeting cards in the UK, and it is clear from this name that these beautiful and delicate cards are not an embellishment of life for the British, but a necessity of life.
Nowadays, everyone receives many Christmas cards at Christmas, so Christmas cards are as much a part of Western Christmas culture as Christmas trees. As the UK has promoted simple living in recent years, some families no longer buy Christmas trees, but Christmas cards must not be left out. All the families put the Christmas cards they received in the most prominent places in their homes, some on the countertop above the fireplace in layers; some in a long table lined up; and some in a wall to pull a few thin ropes, open cards hanging in rows on the rope, like the naval ships of various countries in the grand welcome ceremony and the holiday hanging full of colorful flags.
British family ties may not be as tight as the Chinese, so cards for Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day and other special days are especially important. There are also friends who have not seen each other for years, and even childhood friends who rely on the annual Christmas cards to maintain their friendship.
The British look reserved, but the heart is very rich in feelings. One Christmas card for a brother reads in stamped English: "Brother, every day of the year, you mean something to me. Even though you already know it, I have to tell you that my thoughts of you, my love for you and the pride I feel because of you cannot be expressed in words or language."
The English are less adept at expressing their feelings verbally, preferring to use words and colors to convey affection. That's why in the UK, there are many stores in every town that specialize in selling greeting cards, and large supermarkets, small stores, stationery stores, libraries, etc. all have greeting card counters.
America: A Diverse Greeting Card Culture
In the United States, there are many different kinds of greeting cards. In addition to holiday cards such as Christmas, Halloween and Easter, there are also wedding cards and thank you cards. Americans like to make their own greeting cards, which is closely related to the national culture of the United States, which advocates individuality and spontaneity. People like to make their own life photos into greeting cards and send them to their friends and relatives in the New Year, to express their blessings on the one hand, and to convey their happy and joyful life status to their friends and relatives at the same time.
The U.S. government also spares no effort in promoting greeting card culture. The U.S. Postal Service holds a huge greeting card and letter month every year. During the event, users log on to the relevant website to order greeting cards, after which they will receive a free card and a postage-paid envelope from the USPS. The USPS wants users to put down their cell phones and PDAs and take a few minutes to write cards with a pen in their hands, replacing email or text messages with physical cards. Physical messages sent through the USPS can be preserved for years, even centuries, without being deleted with the click of a button.
The U.S. greeting card culture has also been popular with all U.S. presidents, from Eisenhower to Bush, 10 U.S. presidents have issued Christmas cards. 895,000 cards were issued by President Bush and his wife on Christmas Day 2007; and according to Science New Life, President Bush and his wife sent 2 million cards on Christmas Day 2004, more than one thousandth of all Christmas cards mailed in the United States that year. In 2004, according to Science New Life, President Bush and his wife sent 2 million cards, more than one thousandth of the total number of Christmas cards mailed in the United States that year, which is the highest in the world.
