a choice of greeting cards

Although it is still hot, I have started to prepare Christmas cards. For Japanese, Christmas is just one of those events that puts us in a happy mood for the end and the beginning of the year and eating cakes (SORRY if anyone feels inappropriate).

When I was a little girl, I had teachers who came to teach me English at home, and I'll never forget Miss Lucy, who came from UK. She brought the culture of the West with her a lot. As a lover of letters, I was delighted by the exchange of Christmas cards and the occasional greeting card. I also learned about Easter, which is/was? not familiar to Japanese people. Eggs, bunnies, pastel colours... I still don't know what Easter is all about. (Sorry again.) I do remember receiving an Easter greeting card from UK, which Miss Lucy was in Japan had asked her mother to send to me. It was probably my first letter from a foreign country.

In general, Japanese people do not show our emotions to others, or perhaps we do, but we are more reserved than foreigners. I express my emotions naturally (that can be seen as a bad manner... Objection!) and I think that it is better to express especially cheerful feelings such as joy and gratitude to others, so I write letters and cards, but it is not common here. The same is true for condolence. That's why there is not much choice of greeting cards in Japan, and when there is, they are often too fancy with gadgets, so I tend to look for foreign ones for everyday use.