How to Celebrate New Year in Japan: Traditions & Travel Tips

When travelling to Japan over New Year, it's worth knowing what to expect from a New Year experience like nowhere else. If you arrive expecting fireworks and crowds gathered for countdown, you might find yourself spending the night in your hotel room, wondering where everyone has gone.

Japanese New Year (oshogatsu) is a celebration of traditions and customs stretched across a full week. People travel home to be with family, shopfronts close behind handwritten signs, and the year is welcomed through temple visits, first prayers, first sunrises, first dreams, and, once the shutters roll up again, the first New Year sales.

This guide covers what to expect, the key traditions, where to celebrate and stay, and the travel tips to help you make the most of every day.

• Know before you go: Widespread closures begin around 28 December to 4 January
• Best places to celebrate: Tokyo (and Yokohama), Kyoto, Osaka, and Sapporo
• Key experiences: Temple bell ceremonies, first shrine prayers, first sunrise, osechi ryori feasts, and hatsuuri (New Year sales)
• Greeting to know: Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu (Happy New Year)

New Year in Japan is unlike anywhere else in the world. Instead of big fireworks and countdowns, you'll find temple bells, shrine visits, and quiet streets as families head back to their hometowns. Knowing how the week unfolds helps you plan around closures and catch the moments worth travelling for.

The final days of December have a quiet, purposeful feel. Locals clean their homes in a tradition called osoji, businesses hold end-of-year parties known as bonenkai, and shopping streets fill with people picking up mochi, decorations, and osechi ryori for the days ahead.

Kadomatsu (pine and bamboo arrangements) start appearing beside doorways, shimenawa ropes are hung above entrances, and stacked kagami mochi rice cakes sit in living rooms, all placed to welcome toshigami-sama, the New Year deity believed to bring good fortune for the year ahead.

The last day of the year is when the celebration begins. Families gather for a bowl of toshikoshi soba, then settle in to watch the long-running television broadcast Kohaku Uta Gassen, a music show often playing in homes and hotel lobbies nationwide. As midnight nears, people wrap up warmly and make their way to a nearby temple for Joya no Kane, the ringing of the temple bells at midnight.

The first three days of January are the heart of the celebration. Most offices, banks, and independent shops close, and cities take on a rare stillness. Locals head to shrines for hatsumode, children receive otoshidama (money envelopes) from relatives, and families sit down to long, symbolic meals. Around 2 January, many pay attention to hatsuyume, the first dream of the year, with dreams featuring Mt Fuji, a hawk, or an eggplant considered especially lucky.

By 4 January, most businesses reopen and the country returns to its usual pace. It's a good day to explore neighbourhoods that were closed earlier in the week, and often the best time to enjoy popular sights with smaller crowds than usual.

The most memorable moments of New Year in Japan tend to be quiet ones, spread across several days rather than concentrated into a single night. Here's how to actually experience each one.

As the year turns, temple bells are rung 108 times, each toll representing an earthly desire that Buddhist teaching says burdens the human heart. Standing in the queue, you'll notice the cold first, then the hush that settles over the crowd as the first strike lands. The sound is deeper and longer than you'd expect, and some temples let visitors take a turn at the rope, which is a rare thing to be part of.

Hatsumode is the year's first prayer, and at major shrines the paths fill with families in coats and scarves, the air scented with grilled squid and roasted chestnuts from the stalls lining the approach. You'll toss a coin, clap twice, bow, and make a quiet wish for the year ahead. Many people also draw an omikuji (a paper fortune) or buy an omamori (a small protective charm) to carry through the year.

Watching the first sunrise of the year is one of Japan's most cherished traditions. Some travellers head to the coast, others climb to a viewpoint, and some ride a lift to a hotel observation deck. Wherever you go, expect to arrive early, wait in the cold, and share the moment with strangers who've had the same idea.

Osechi ryori is the traditional Japanese meal served during the New Year period, presented in lacquered boxes called jubako, with each dish carrying its own symbolism, from black soybeans for good health to herring roe for family prosperity. Many hotels serve it during the first three days of January, alongside ozoni (a mochi soup) and a glass of otoso (spiced sake) to toast the year ahead.

From 1 or 2 January, department stores across Japan reopen for the first New Year sale (hatsuuri). The biggest draw is the red lucky bags (fukubukuro), sealed mystery bags containing goods worth more than the price paid. Enthusiasts queue from dawn to snap up ones from popular brands, making it a distinctly Japanese way to spend the first days of the year.

Japan's cities mark the turn of the year in their own way. Some cities stay lively late into the night, while others are calm and quiet. Where you base yourself over New Year shapes the kind of trip you'll have.

Best for: skyline views, temple countdowns, and New Year shopping

Tokyo doesn't do one big countdown, and that's part of what makes New Year here feel different. In the lead-up to New Year, Odaiba Seaside Park is a popular spot for skyline views over Tokyo Bay with the Rainbow Bridge in the distance, or head to observation decks at Roppongi Hills Mori Tower or Tokyo Skytree, where the city below looks unusually still.

For a more traditional evening, Zōjō-ji Temple sits under the shadow of Tokyo Tower, where crowds gather to release balloons at midnight and hear the bell begin. From 1 January, Meiji Jingu shrine draws millions, and department stores in Shinjuku, Ginza, and Shibuya reopen with fukubukuro lucky bags that often sell out by mid-morning.

Pullman Tokyo Tamachi puts you within reach of Odaiba, Roppongi, and Zōjō-ji, with higher floors ideal for the first sunrise, and a convenient base for a short ride out to Yokohama. For a more central base close to the sales and late-night dining, ibis Styles Tokyo Ginza is located within walking distance of Ginza's department stores and the illuminations along Chuo-dori.

Best for: a traditional New Year experience

Kyoto during New Year feels centuries older than Tokyo. The streets around Gion quiet down early, lanterns glow outside wooden machiya houses, and by late evening on 31 December, the crowds are heading not to bars but to temples.

At Chion-in temple, one of the deepest bells in Japan is struck by 17 monks working together, its low resonance carrying across the eastern hills. At nearby Yasaka Shrine, people gather to receive okera-bi, a sacred flame carried home on a lit rope, said to bring good fortune. Across 1 to 3 January, Fushimi Inari's vermilion gates fill with visitors, and by dawn on 1 January, some walk up to Kiyomizu-dera to watch the first sunrise.

ibis Styles Kyoto Station puts you close to the shinkansen and buses running to the eastern temple district, so you can be at Chion-in or Yasaka Shrine in time for the first bell. It's also an easy base for day trips to Nara or Fushimi Inari.

Best for: food, nightlife, and street atmosphere

Osaka's food-first character carries into New Year, when Dotonbori fills with people wandering under the glow of the Glico running man sign, the canal reflecting neon, and the smell of takoyaki and grilled skewers drifting from stalls that stay open late.

Tuck into an izakaya in Namba or Shinsekai and you'll find groups toasting with beer and sake, kitchens working until the small hours. On 1 January, Sumiyoshi Taisha shrine welcomes more than two million visitors, its arched Sori-hashi bridge glowing red under the winter sky.

Perched above Namba Station, Swissôtel Nankai Osaka puts Dotonbori's neon, canals, and izakayas at your doorstep. You can drift down to the food stalls for toshikoshi soba, join the countdown along the canal, and be back at the hotel in minutes. Sumiyoshi Taisha is a short train ride away.

Best for: snowy scenery, first-sunrise views, and Hokkaido food

Up in Hokkaido, Sapporo welcomes the year under snow, a different New Year from the cities further south. Hundreds of thousands of people make their way to Hokkaido Jingu shrine for hatsumode, where food stalls line the approach and limited zodiac charms are sold from 1 January.

For the first sunrise, locals head up Mt Moiwa by ropeway or to the JR Tower observation deck for views over the snow-covered city, both open early on 1 January. Down in Susukino, the city's food scene keeps going through the holiday, from steaming bowls of miso ramen to the fresh seafood Hokkaido is known for.

Mercure Sapporo sits in the heart of Susukino, a minute from Hosui-Susukino station, so you're close to the ramen counters, seafood spots, and subway lines running out to Hokkaido Jingu and the sunrise viewpoints.

• Book early: hotels near major shrines fill up months in advance.
• Expect widespread closures: many independent shops, restaurants, and small businesses close between 31 December and 3 January.
• Choose accommodation with dining: hotel restaurants are your most reliable food option on 1 and 2 January.
• Plan temple visits: popular shrines become very crowded, particularly on 1 January.
• Check transport schedules: trains run all night on New Year's Eve, but daytime services may follow a reduced timetable.
• Dress warmly: winter temperatures are cold, especially when you're standing outdoors for the bell ringing or first sunrise.
• Allow extra time: crowds are common at major attractions from 31 December to 3 January.
• Stock up in advance: pick up water, snacks, and any essentials before 31 December, when convenience stores may be your only open option.

From Tokyo's skyline to Kyoto's temple bells and Osaka's late-night streets, Japan offers a distinctive way to welcome the New Year, shaped as much by quiet tradition as by celebration.

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