New Years Postcard Lottery 2015

I had almost forgotten about the annual 年賀状お年玉 (New Years Postcard Lottery).
(Click here to read an earlier post I’ve written about it).

What reminded me of it was the fact that today is 「旧正月」 (Chinese New Years).

On January 19th, 2015, the winning numbers were announced.

Check your postcards, if you have a winning number, you have until July 21st (2015) to bring winning cards to a post office (in Japan) to claim your prize.

The winning numbers and prizes for this year are:

Place	Prize	Odds	Number of winners	Winning Numbers
1st（last five digits）	¥10,000	1 in 100,000	33,185	82243
2nd（last four digits）	Various local goods	1 in 10,000	331,858	1351
3rd（last two digits）	Commemorative postage stamps	2 in 100 (1 in 50)	66,371,640	27 or 30

Click here to visit the Japan Post “New Years Postcard Lottery” page (in Japanese).

2013 New Years Cards Lottery winning numbers

Here are the winning numbers for the 2013 New Years Postcard Lottery:

957503 – Prize: Computer, digital camera and printer – or – Digital TV

111316, 294651, or 346247 – Prize: Digital camera and digital picture frame – or – Humidifier – or – Bicycle

xx5635 – Prize: Regional food items

xxxx29, or xxxx70 – Prize: Postage stamps

Did you win anything?

I won stamps…again

As I mentioned before on this blog (including this post), Japanese people send friends and family 年賀状 (New Years postcards) every year and each of these postcards has a unique six digit serial number on the back lower-right-hand corner.

This number is for the annual お年玉 (Japan Postal New Years lottery drawing).

Every year in late January, the post office announces seven sets of winning numbers.

This year’s winning numbers were announced today.

They are:

— First Place (with a 1 in one-million chance of winning) postcards with the number 651694.
People who have a card with this number can choose a prize of either a digital TV,

a trip to Hawaii or any domestic (Japan) location,
a set of office supplies,
a laptop computer / digital camera / digital printer combo,

or a bicycle

— Second Place (with a 3 in one-million chance of winning) has winning numbers of either: 403580, 228949, or 022471.
These prizes are a choice of a wii Game set,
a digital camera and digital frame set,
a humidifier,
a domestic trip (with hotel, dinner, and lunch), or
a coffee maker.

— Third Place (1 in 10,000 chance) are cards with the last four digits of 8363.
The prize is a choice from a large variety of foods.

— Fourth Place (2 in 100 chance) are cards with the last two digits of either 69 or 02.
The prize is two Japanese postage stamps with pictures of a rabbit (2011 is “The Year of the Rabbit”).

Last year (2010), I had a post card with the winning number for a set of two stamps with pictures of a tiger (2010 was “the Year of the Tiger”)…and this year I have two postcards with winning numbers for stamps again.

Maybe one year we’ll win one of the big prizes.

お年玉 Kit-Kat

Last January, I wrote about Kit-Kat Japan‘s special chocolates for kids taking their school entrance exams (click here to read it).

I gave a box to my oldest daughter last winter when she was taking her high school entrance exams.
This year, my second daughter is in the ninth grade (final year of junior high school), so she’ll be taking her high school entrance exams next month. I’ll be buying the chocolate for her next month.

But right now, Kit-Kat Japan has another special box.
It’s 「お年玉　Kit-Kat」 (“Otoshidama-Kit-Kat“).

(Otoshidama Kit-Kat)

「お年玉」 (Otoshidama) is gift money given to children at New Years time.
It’s a Japanese tradition. Kids can receive special envelopes of money from all of their adult relatives at New Years until they turn twenty-years-old.

This Kit-Kat box has a special envelope pocket on the side to put money inside and a space to write “To” and “From”.
It also has a tiger on the box because 2010 will be the “Year Of The Tiger“.

Usually Japanese kids get 「お年玉」 (New Years gift money) in envelopes like these:

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And, unrelated, the “2010 Tokyo Marathon” will take place on 2010 February 28.

Last March, I wrote about the “2009 Tokyo Marathon“.
Click here to read it.