I look forward to New Years every year for all the great New Years-themed creations from Japanese LEGO fans. Many of the creations are in the form of New Years cards, or nengajou, which I wrote about back in 2006 (check out the 2007 roundup as well).

For 2008 — the Year of the Rat — our fellow builders across the Pacific have graced us with another batch of wonderful nengajou. Since the word for “rat” and “mouse” is the same in Japanese (ネズミ, pronounced “nezumi”), many of these feature mice.

We’ll get things going with Mumu’s best wishes for 2008:

Izzo presents a rideable mouse:

Kwi Chang uses a line art version of one of his mecha:

Mashikuf gets deliciously cheesy:

Ayucow puts mice in a pizzeria kitchen:

Finally, Maciek Drwięga (who I suspect isn’t Japanese) joins the celebrations with a bit of a bang (via Klocki):

Updates: And one more from suu:

MisaQa joins the fun (a bit belatedly, but worth the wait) with a batch of adorable mice (via Klocki):