Smartphones Play a Major Role in New Year's Cards Again This Year: Nogizaka46 and Rocchi Are Surprised by the Convenience

The year-end tradition of accepting New Year's cards began on December 15th. A ceremony marking the start of accepting 2015 New Year's cards was held at JP Tower in Marunouchi, Tokyo.

Japan Post President Toru Takahashi described the 2015 New Year's cards as "a trial for new New Year's cards." They have evolved to enhance enjoyment for both senders and recipients by incorporating integration with the popular app LINE and AR (Augmented Reality, a technology primarily utilizing smartphones).

Appearing as guests at the ceremony were seven members of Nogizaka46 (Manatsu Akimoto, Erika Ikuta, Reika Sakurai, Mai Shiraishi, Nanase Nishino, Nanami Hashimoto, Minami Hoshino), who served as content characters for the new "Spinning AR New Year's Card" feature. When you hold your smartphone over the card, the eight members dressed in furisode kimonos "pop out" from the postcard. You can enjoy them in various poses by changing the angle. Shiraishi also highlighted the quality, stating, "It's content that even non-fans can enjoy."

Additionally, they introduced new features, including a tie-up with the messaging app LINE and the use of the "Moving New Year's Card" Clip ( http://www.jp.clip.cc/ ), with the help of guest stars Soichi Nakaoka and Kentaro Kokado from the comedy duo Rocchi. They demonstrated using the LINE-collaborated "Postcard Design Kit 2015," showing how paper New Year's cards can be delivered to "LINE friends" even without knowing their address. Nogizaka46 members expressed surprise at this feature.

Acceptance for 2015 New Year's cards begins December 15th. For guaranteed delivery on January 1st, "please post them by December 25th" (President Takahashi).

"Nogizaka46 Spinning AR New Year's Card" http://guruguru-ar-nenga.jp/

Smartphone app "Clip" for creating moving photoshttp://www.jp.clip.cc/