Join Three Million at Meiji Jingu for Hatsumode
You step through the great torii at Meiji Jingu and the city noise drops away behind you. It is January 2, the heart of hatsumode, the first shrine visit of the year, and the gravel avenue is packed shoulder to shoulder with people in dark coats and bright kimono. This is the busiest stretch of the Japanese calendar: hatsumode peaks from January 1 to 3, and Meiji Jingu alone receives roughly three million visitors across those first three days. Come early in the morning if you want to move at your own pace; come mid-afternoon if you want the full spectacle of the crowd. If you would rather skip the crush entirely, remember that shrines welcome visits all month, and the queues shorten noticeably after January 3.
- Meiji Jingu, Tokyo — around three million worshippers over the first three days of the year
- Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto — roughly 2.5 million New Year visitors if you are extending your trip west
- Sumiyoshi Taisha, Osaka — about two million visitors, and the head shrine of some 2,300 Sumiyoshi shrines, reached by its arched Sorihashi bridge
- Timing note: January 1–3 sees many restaurants and museums closed, so plan your meals around shrine stalls and convenience stores
Hunt Fukubukuro in the Department Stores
By January 2 the shutters are up again. Department stores reopen with fukubukuro, the lucky bags sold at the start of the year, and the queues form before opening. You buy a sealed bag without knowing exactly what is inside, and the contents are reliably worth more than you paid. This is one of the few retail rituals in Tokyo that is genuinely a spectator sport as well as a shopping one: watch how fast the popular counters sell through, and how carefully regulars choose their bags. Pair it with a walk through the surrounding streets while the city is still in holiday mode and Tokyo's clear, dry winter skies do their work.
Watch Sumo at Ryogoku Kokugikan
If your visit stretches past the first week, the Grand Sumo Hatsu Basho runs January 10–24, 2027 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo — fifteen consecutive days, Sunday to Sunday. Tickets are required and sell through the official English site, with advance sales opening roughly five weeks ahead; weekends and the final days go first. Top-division bouts finish by around 18:00, so arriving between 14:00 and 15:00 puts you in your seat for the best of the day's wrestling. Even outside the tournament dates, the Ryogoku district is worth a wander for the sumo stable architecture and the chanko-nabe restaurants that feed the wrestlers.
Fire, Ice and Light Beyond the City
January in Japan is not only a city holiday. North of Tokyo, the season turns into fire and ice, and each of these is reachable as an overnight trip if you book early — January is peak ski-season pricing in the north, so transport and lodging fill fast.
- Nozawa Onsen Dosojin Fire Festival — January 15, one night only. Villagers defend a wooden shrine from torch-bearers; it counts among Japan's three great fire festivals. Accommodation in Nozawa fills early; Iiyama or Nagano city work as bases.
- Sounkyo Ice Waterfall Festival — January 23 to March 7, 2027, at Sounkyo Onsen in the Daisetsuzan gorge, Hokkaido. Ice domes and towers lit nightly, with fireworks at weekends.
- Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival — January 30 to February 23, 2027, open 10:00–20:00. Turquoise ice domes and tunnels built by spraying lake water onto frames, illuminated after dark. Expect temperatures of −10 °C and below.
- Kobe Luminarie — January 29 to February 7, 2027, the 32nd edition. Light arches are viewable free from the surrounding streets, with paid zones at Meriken Park; all three venues are walkable from Sannomiya Station.
- Atami Plum Garden Festival — opens early January at Atami Bairin, Japan's earliest-blooming plum grove, with taiko drumming and geisha dances.
Eat, Drink and Warm Up
Between shrine visits and department-store floors, January eating in Tokyo is about warmth and ritual. Note that many restaurants close over January 1–3, so on the second itself you are best served by shrine-side stalls, department-store food halls and the fukubukuro crowds' own pit stops. Once the city reopens fully, seek out the chanko-nabe around Ryogoku if you are heading to the sumo, and build your days around the clear, dry winter skies that make long walks between neighbourhoods genuinely pleasant rather than a compromise.
Start With the Second
January 2 sits at the exact centre of hatsumode, when the shrines are at their fullest and the department stores have just thrown open their doors — a single day that gives you both the spiritual and the commercial face of the Japanese New Year. Book your flights and any sumo or festival lodging now, keep the first three days loose so the closures do not catch you out, and let the rest of January unfold from there.