It may o­nly be September, but it's not too early for Japanese to prepare for their yearly task -- writing "nengajyo" to basically everyone they know. In a nutshell, "nengajyou" are postcards you send to others with messages o­n them such as "we're all doing fine" and "hope you have a good year." In America, a lot of people send Christmas cards to each other; this is the same concept, except without all the religious undertones. So, as you'd expect, basically every Japanese family sends at least o­ne card to someone else.

No tradition can escape the grasp of technology in Japan. Casio has announced a new post card printer that features a 3.6" color LCD and keyboard, specifically for printing out customized post cards, all without the use of a PC.

Casio Computer Corporation will release the "Printsu-ru PCP-100" (Translator's note: the name of this printer is a play o­n words; "Prin" means "print," and "utsuru" means "copy." But when combined, these two words sound like "purintsuru," or "print tool") o­n October 12th for roughly 50,400 yen. New year's cards and other items can be created and printed using the printer alone.

This is a printer that allows for creating and printing of New Year's cards with photographs without the use of a PC, thanks to the device's keyboard for character input, LCD monitor, and memory card slot. It has a volume of about 85% that of previous models, and the screen is much larger, at 3.6 inches (240 x 320 dots).

The 239 internal designs of the printer can be combined with photographs to create New Year's cards, wedding/childbirth announcements, and so o­n, and the user inputs addressee using the keyboard. Also, QR codes for the sender can be printed. The unit contains 5 fonts.

It is also capable of creating black & white images, sepia images, image prints with comments, trimming, and sticker sheets with an internal frame.

The resolution is 2400 x 1200 dpi. Post card, A6, L seal, 10 x 15 tab, and seal paper sizes can be printed. The printing speed for post cards is 45 seconds per sheet (address side) and 55 seconds per sheet (letter content side). And L-size photograph takes 70 seconds per sheet.

The memory stick slot can accomodate SD memory card/MMC, Type 2 CF, xD Picture Card, SmartMedia, and Memory Stick. With an adapter, it also supports miniSD and Memory Stick Duo. The supported image format is JPEG.

Up to 460 addresses can be stored inside the unit, and it also features an internal zip code directory.

The size is 218 x 129 x 136mm (W x D x H), and it weighs about 1.7kg.

Inspired by:
http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/accessories/2005/09/20/2327.html

Press Release:
http://www.casio.co.jp/release/2005/pcp_100.html