Like Christmas cards in the US, Japan has a tradition of sending nenga, or New Year’s postcards for the upcoming year, during the year-end holiday season. This year, to honor the 50th anniversary of the Nissan GT-R and Fairlady Z, Japan’s postal service is publishing nenga celebrating the iconic cars that have been part of the country’s cultural fabric for half a century.
Four of the eight cars are devoted to the GT-R, a car that achieved, according to Japan Post, “50 wins in 2 years and 10 months, always pursuing sophisticated grand touring performance and overwhelming speed. Created by racing technology, a philosophy unchanged since its beginning and a monument that shines brilliantly in the history of Japanese racing.”
The other four are devoted to the Fairlady Z, “everyone’s sports car, beloved around the world to the tune of of 1.8 million units sold.”
The beautiful illustrations are the work of automotive artist Gao Nishikawa. The postcards depict the cars in various scenes around Japan, like Mt Fuji or beneath a canopy of sakura trees. Since one of the traditions of New Year’s is to wake early and watch the first sunrise of the year, several of the cards show a Hakosuka or S30 Z at the beach (or an R32 prowling the highways) as dawn breaks.
Japan Post began selling them Monday, September 2, at the cost of ¥3,760 per set (approx. $35 USD), which includes the printing of your own name and address, as well as postage. If you live in Japan, you can order them at the Japan Post website.
How do I order one
Can the postcards be orders if I don’t live in Japan?
Love the GTR
I need these-they ate nice. How can I order them?
Last year when the RX7 set came out, I had to get a friend of mine (a Youtuber), to go to a Japan Post office, and purchase the set, and send them to me. He moved to Japan from Florida (where we initially met and became friends, in ’81), 28 years ago, to teach English, and now has his own English language school in Nagoya.
So basically, if you know someone in Japan, it’s not terribly difficult. Outside that scenario, I don’t know how you would get a set. Maybe you could call Japan Post at the number in the advertisement, and hope you could get an English speaker, if you don’t speak Japanese. Would be worth a try.