Japan rethinks tradition of New Year's cards as inflation persists

A growing number of Japanese people appear to be breaking with the country's tradition of sending New Year's greeting cards, as rising prices of daily goods are forcing them to cut back on spending.Japanese businesses, too, are switching to digital format and doing away with the drudgery of preparing traditional paper postcards, a change that can help them cut costs and save labor in one of the busiest seasons of the year.After a price hike in October, a basic New Year's postcard costs 85 yen ($0.5), up from 63 yen for the previous year. Japan Post Co. set its initial issuance of the greeti…READ FULL ARTICLE