6/15 is Shochuu Mimai Day!
Shochuu mimai are summer greeting cards that are customarily sent from July 7 to August 7!
Japan has a summer custom to send relatives and friends a greeting and to wish them health in the summer heat called shochuu mimai (暑中見舞い/lit. midsummer inquiry).
This practice has its origins in the Edo period, where people returned to their hometowns to be with their families for the Obon Festival, to honor and give offerings to the spirits of their ancestors. This eventually turned into a broader practice where gifts were also given to friends and coworkers to show appreciation. Those who aren't able to make it home often sent letters and their gifts via courier instead.
On June 15, 1950, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications started releasing the first shochuu mimai postcards for the season. These postcards were adorned with images of seagulls to evoke the summer and contained lottery numbers to promote their use. With the name of seagulls in Japanese being "kamome" and the loan word of mail being "meeru", these postcards were given the nickname "kamomeeru" and were playfully and officially stylized as "kamome~ru", also giving way to the pun "kamon meeru" or "Come on, mail!" The cards were very popular, and it became customary to send them during the hottest parts of the summer around July 7 to August 7.
Issuance of these postcards hit a peak in 1993 at 340 million postcards, but popularity sharply declined going into the 2000s with the advent of the internet and modern phones. Efforts to revitalize its use came in the form of broader lotteries and promotions, but the increased cost of postal services and the impact of Covid-19 had issuance hit a record low of 140 million postcards in 2020, and thus the postcards were discontinued on that year. Though the postcards are no longer being made, the practice of shochuu mimai during the period of July 7 to August 7 still continues in the form of normal summer postcards that might no longer have seagulls or a lottery number, as well as many other commuication methods.Today commemorates the first release of postcards for the purpose of shochuu mimai.Haa...Haa...Please! Let me use the air conditioner or the electric fan already!EndureI'm going to die if I can't!The half-phantom, half-human Youmu has a low body temperature and is very weak against the heat.
