Fabulous Prizes

A really tardy reminder--but did you check all your nengajō against the January 15 winning numbers announcement from Japan Post?

Though I should hardly be surprised, given the number of my acquaintances who take the time to send nengajō, I won (like the above card illustrates) nada this year.

Had I bought my hundred cards and simply held on to them, I would have won at least 2 prizes.

Of course, the one really neat aspect of this year's nengajō storm was the funny (funny "odd" not funny "ha ha") way the heretofore spectacularly expeditious system of delivering New Years cards broke down.

A paranoid person, a Doubting Thomas would surmise that someone, somewhere was trying to demonstrate how quickly the heretofore unshakable Japan Post will go to pot under privatization...

Not me, of course. Why are you looking at me like that?