Every year, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) sends Nengajo (New Year's card) and Shochumimai (summer greeting card) written by employee volunteers to elderly people aged 75 or older living alone in Minato City, in support of the "Heart Warming Communication Kangari" carried out by the Minato Council of Social Welfare and the Volunteer Center.
The name "Kangari" was taken from a passage in a collection of essays titled "Kotoba No Saijiki" (seasonal words glossary in English) by Haruhiko Kindaichi, indicating "the subtle hues of the eastern sky at dawn, brighter than faint light but not as hot as blazing light, and which was selected with the wish to keep in touch with the elderly people without intruding too deeply into their privacy, but not becoming too distant with them.
In December 2020, we called for employee volunteers and collected 37 Nengajo cards with New Year's greetings, illustrations of the Ox (the Japanese zodiac sign for 2021) or lucky charms, and so on. These cards were delivered to the Minato Council of Social Welfare.
■ Feedback from the employee volunteer
When writing the Nengajo, I remembered "Akabeko" (a red cow in English), a traditional toy in Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture. From old times, it has been said that Akabeko are painted red to ward evil, and children having Akabeko never got sick even when an epidemic broke out. So I chose the motif of Akabeko for the Nengajo. Although we are in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, I would be happy if the recipient would feel a little reassured when he/she saw Akabeko.