Letters are always better than emails. Discuss.
When was the last time you wrote a letter? In recent years, many people seldom receive handwritten letters by postal mail. They can only find DM or flyers when they check their mailboxes. Furthermore, most people don't have an opportunity to write messages on letters or cards and send them by postal mail, even if it is a birthday or Christmas message. This is because it is more convenient and faster to send messages by using social media than postal mails. In Japan, there is a custom to exchange postal cards called “Nengajo” with friends, relatives, bosses, and colleagues on New Year’s Day. It is a tedious job for almost all people. Whereas, people can catch up with the receivers’ lives by sending New Year’s cards, even if they don’t keep in touch with the receivers very often. However, there are even fewer people who send postal Nengajo in recent years due to the popularity of social media.
In Japan, letters had been personally carried to receivers in relay-race style up until 200 years ago. As the Japanese government advanced the modernization of many kinds of social systems, the postal system was introduced to Japan from the UK. In 1871, Hisoka Maejima, called the father of the modern postal system in Japan, started the governmental postal system between Tokyo and Osaka. He created a postal system of nationwide equal charge and the Japanese words such as “Yubin (郵便)” and “Yubin kitte (郵便切手)”. The Japanese 1-yen postage stamps are printed with his portrait. Japanese people often use a symbol regarding postage: “〒”. This mark was from the name of a government ministry called “Teishin-sho”. “Te” of Teishin-sho represents “テ” in Katakana. This is because the shape of the symbol is similar to the Katakana character. This is the former name of the ministry, and now it is called Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (総務省).
The number of letters and postcards by using the postal system has been decreasing in the past 20 years. Especially, the fewest number of letters and cards in 2020 were sent out because many events and festivals were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic and companies didn’t send letters or postcards. Many people learned that they could communicate with others instantly by using social media due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, we might need to resist our busy schedules and secure enough time to feel relaxed. If you feel stressed, it will make you feel relaxed to choose a letter and envelope or a postcard and write warm messages to your loved ones.
I think that the arrival of spring is the worst thing to be late. My reasons are…
1. People in the northern countries always hope that the freezing cold weather ends and spring comes as soon as possible.
2. In Japan, there are graduation ceremonies in March and entrance ceremonies in April. If the arrival of spring is late, these ceremonies cannot be colored pink by cherry blossoms.
3. When the arrival of spring is late, the cherry blossom season is late as well. According to the experts, it damages the cherry trees.