Letter Writing in the Digital Age

I'm still fond of writing letters although these days I don't make much time for it. An article about recent Japanese language survey results showed that I'm not alone.  Most people prefer hand written notes and letters which reminded me of a unique shop I came across over the summer.

In Kyoto, "Letter Buffet" was full of people looking at unique envelopes and writing paper. The envelopes are sold three for 220 yen and letter papers 10 for 385 yen. It was set up as a fancy boutique experience.

Since I make a lot of things myself, including envelopes sometimes, nothing was especially appealing to me. I grew up with pen pals before email was an option, including random items, and using anything at hand to write my letters. The idea of real mail seems to be popular with young people especially... although it seems like not many of them actually send letters.

I think the art of handwriting is important and receiving letters is fun too. Maybe it's not so obvious to Japan Post, but young people seem interested in more tactile or retro things, so hopefully that will cause a rise in letters sent in Japan.

It's hard to make time for writing a special letter by hand when email and chat is so immediate. I have a handful of friends I still write to sometimes and just sent off a birthday letter. How about you?