Because the New Year is the holiday time that the Japanese pull out all the stops for, it makes an incredible time to be a tourist. Whereas western traditions celebrate only on New Year's Eve, for the Japanese the holiday's traditions span from late December through early January. As a foreigner just visiting, there is little better opportunity to observe and participate in authentic Japanese culture at the height of its colorful traditions. But Tokyo is especially popular as a New Year destination: it builds upon the standard Japanese New Year traditions like first temple visit and first sunrise of the year with vibrant, magical customs of its own. Thousands of foreigners and natives alike flock to Tokyo each year to celebrate the New Year in all metropolitan brilliance. What draws so many people?
1. The countdown at Zojoji Temple (New Year's Eve)
Zojoji is a Buddhist temple just before Tokyo Tower with a wide courtyard which easily accommodates the thousands that show up for the countdown. Visitors line up and are given a clear, eco-friendly balloon and a scrap of paper on which to write a wish for the New Year. The wish, once written down, is tied to the balloon string. Then, at midnight – instead of a bursting fireworks display as is typical of western celebrations – those gathered in the courtyard release the balloons. At the same moment, Tokyo Tower is thrown into diamond illumination and colored spotlights are cast up into the sky, so that as the balloons and wishes rise into the night, they catch the colors and shimmer in the thousands.
As the balloons begin disappearing into the sky, the crowd pushes forward – the great doors of Zojoji Temple are opened, and now visitors may complete the Japanese New Year tradition of first temple visit. Inside, people approach the altar to toss in a coin (the five-yen coin is considered luckiest) and pray for their fortune in the upcoming year. It is too crowded to exit the way you came in, so now the traffic flow is directed out the back of the temple, where visitors are greeted with the sight of Tokyo Tower in all its silver-white glittering New Year splendor.
Finally making your way back to the courtyard, you may partake in more standard Japanese New Year traditions: drawing your fortune (complete with tiny good luck charm for the year), ringing a heavy rope against a temple bell three times, receiving a spiritual cleansing, and eating New Year foods like mochi made fresh in the mortar and pestle.
2. First sunrise from Tokyo heights (New Year's Day)
There are many great places in Tokyo from which to observe, as is an important Japanese tradition, the very first sunrise of the New Year. There are, however, some places that stand out as more popular destinations.
One of these is Tokyo Tower itself. The special observatory, 250 meters high, can only let in a limited number of people, so if you want to do it from this level, know that tickets are made available only a few hours before the sunrise itself, and are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. The good news is that there is also a main observatory, 150 meters high, for which there is no limited capacity. Tickets for this deck are also less expensive.
For the budgeting visitor, a great panoramic view of Tokyo can be enjoyed from the twin towers of the Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku for free. The observation decks, at 45 stories, still give one of the best views of the city.
3. The traditionalist approach at Meiji Jingu (New Year's Eve and the first week of January)
Meiji Jingu, or Meiji Shrine, is perhaps the most popular place in Tokyo to partake in authentic Japanese New Years traditions. It is less showy than the countdown at Zojoji Temple, not having balloons released or anything like fireworks let off, and yet every year it draws enormous crowds stretching so far from the shrine itself that projector screens are put up to show what is happening at the inner courtyard. The emphasis here is less on the crowd-euphoric countdown, and more on the spiritual importance of the first temple visit of the year.
At midnight, monks strike a giant, parade-sized taiko drum 108 times, symbolizing the Buddhist 108 worldly desires that must be overcome to achieve enlightenment. (In most other temples and shrines, monks strike a bell.) As at Zojoji and other temples and shrines across Japan, once the old year has changed into the new, visitors approach the front to toss coins and pray for a prosperous and healthy year. Following that, visitors can do traditional activities such as drawing fortunes, buying good-luck charms, or writing wishes on a piece of wood to be hung up.
