Why New Year matters
For most people in Japan, New Year, shōgatsu, is the most important time of the year: a time to close the old year cleanly and start the new one with luck. Families gather, homes are cleaned, doors are decorated with pine and straw rope, and almost everyone visits a shrine or temple in the first days of January.
For visitors, it is a wonderful time to see Japanese traditions up close, but also a time when many things close. A little planning goes a long way.
New Year’s Eve (December 31)
- Toshikoshi soba. People eat buckwheat noodles on the evening of December 31. The long noodles are said to stand for a long life, and they are easy to cut, like the troubles of the old year.
- Joya no kane. Around midnight, temples across Japan ring their great bells 108 times, one for each worldly desire in Buddhist teaching. At Chion-in in Kyoto, a team of monks swings the log that strikes one of Japan’s largest bells. Some temples let visitors take a turn; queues start well before midnight.
- Okera Mairi. At Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto, visitors light a rope from the shrine’s sacred fire and swing it in circles to keep it glowing on the way home. The fire was once used to light the first cooking fire of the new year.
The first days of January
- Hatsumōde. The first shrine or temple visit of the year, made by tens of millions of people between January 1 and 3. Read our guide to hatsumōde for how to pray, buy charms and draw a fortune.
- Hatsuhinode. Some people stay up or rise early to watch the first sunrise of the year from a mountain, the coast or a tall building.
- Osechi. Families eat special New Year dishes packed in lacquered boxes, each with a lucky meaning.
- Fukubukuro. Department stores open on January 1 or 2 with “lucky bags” of goods sold at a discount, and queues form early.
Planning tips
- Closures. Many museums, restaurants and small shops close from around December 29 to January 3. Big shrines, temples, department stores and convenience stores stay open.
- Transport. Trains and flights are very full around December 29–30 and January 2–4. Some city train lines run extra trains late on New Year’s Eve; check before you go.
- Crowds. Famous shrines can mean an hour of queuing on January 1. From January 4, it is much calmer and the decorations are still up.
- Book early. Hotels in Kyoto and Tokyo raise prices for the New Year week. Book two to three months ahead.
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