Another year, another great opportunity to make this world a little bit more otaku. New Year in Japan is very similar to the Christmas holiday season in the west; it is more about family than our orgy-like celebration. One aspect to their celebration is making and sending New Year’s cards named nengajo. Post office workers store these cards until actual New Year’s day and then deliver them all at once. A very important aspect of these cards is the Chinese Zodiac, which usually makes an appearance in some way on them.

This year is the year of the ox, or in Japanator’s case, Black Ox. Not only do friends and family send out these cards, but anime studios and creators as well. Thusly we have a lot of cards this holiday to take a look at; though this is probably just a small sample of them out there. So celebrate this New Year’s by looking at these awesome cards, or make your own; New Year’s isn’t over yet!