The end of December and the beginning of January are the busiest times for the Japanese post offices. (1) _________ Japanese have a custom of sending New Year’s Day postcards to their friends and relatives, (2) __________ to the Western custom of sending Christmas cards. Their original purpose was to give your faraway friends and relatives tidings of yourself and your immediate family. (3) __________, this custom existed for people to tell others whom they did not often meet that they were alive and well.

Japanese people send these postcards so that they arrive (4) ___________ 1st January. The post office guarantees (5) ______ the greeting postcards on 1st January if they are posted within a time limit. To deliver these cards (6) _________ time, the post office usually hires students part-time to help deliver the letters.

It is (7) _________ not to send these postcards when one has had a death in the family during the year. In this case, a family member sends a simple postcard (8) ____mochi hagaki (mourning postcards) to inform friends and relatives they should send New Year’s cards, out of respect for the deceased.

Japanese people send these postcards so that they arrive (4) _________1st January.