Japan - Suggestions for overnight in Tokyo/Narita on New Years' Eve

Hey all--Brandon and I will be on the tail end of our Christmas trip and in Narita on New Years' eve. Our flight in from Singapore doesn't allow for enough MCT to allow us to connect directly to our flight back to the US, so we're doing an overnight in Narita.

Neither of us have ever been to Tokyo--any suggestions for where to stay, what to do and anything else on 31/12 and the morning of 01/01? Our flight arrives at 4p on 31/12 and we leave at 5p on 01/01.

New Year's eve is the only night of the year that the Tokyo transit system runs all night, but I don't know if that applies as far out as Narita. So if you are into partying, you could conceivably stay in Tokyo and hit an entertainment district or two without having to worry about getting transport back to your hotel.

The thing everyone in town for New Year's will be doing is going to Meiji shrine in Harajuku; I've never been there for this ceremony but if you can stand huge crowds, you might well find it to be a truly unique experience. Also, New Year's day is the one day of the year that the public is admitted to the Imperial Palace -- but bear in mind you'll have to leave at 1:30pm (if in Y/no status) or 2pm (with FF status to avoid the Y line or if in C or F) to get back to the airport.

Mike Newman has put his Narita stopover page back online and there is a lot of good info there once you get past the rant at the beginning, so if you want to stay in Narita, here is the reference:

http://www.mgnewman.com/narita/index.html

But since you've never been to Tokyo before and have enough time to get into town, since you won't be jetlagged -- go stay in the city if you can afford it (round trip transport to/from Tokyo is about $60 a person either by train or airport bus, plus the hotels are likely more expensive in the city).

Great link, Richard regarding the Narita layover ideas.
That one goes into my bookmarks, for sure. ^

It is probably going to be tough to find hotel rooms in Tokyo, so you need to begin looking now. If you stay in Narita, I should imagine there will be lots ceremony and plenty of people in traditional kimonos to see at the Narita temple on New Years morning.

Hey all--Brandon and I will be on the tail end of our Christmas trip and in Narita on New Years' eve. Our flight in from Singapore doesn't allow for enough MCT to allow us to connect directly to our flight back to the US, so we're doing an overnight in Narita.

Neither of us have ever been to Tokyo--any suggestions for where to stay, what to do and anything else on 31/12 and the morning of 01/01? Our flight arrives at 4p on 31/12 and we leave at 5p on 01/01.

Hey, looks like I'll be doing the same.. I have a gap between when I fly into NRT from vacation, and when I fly back out.. so I'll also be spending 12/30 - 1/2 in NRT/Tokyo. We can meet up if you want for checking out the sights around new years. I'd also appreciate any ideas for hotels around that time... As for the imperial palace, what district of Tokyo is that in?

You could not have chosen a better day/night to visit Narita - the famous shrine 'Narita San' will be packed with revellers and festivities for the Japanese 'O-shougatsu' New Year Break. Why not stay and experience a wonderful night of authentic Japanese culture? Be warned, the place will be PACKED!!!

http://www.fact-index.com/n/na/narita_san.html

The Imperial Palace is right smack in the middle of Tokyo, near Hibiya. Apparently the open day is January 2, though, not January 1. There is an English web page on this that I've seen but I can't find it.

If any of you are Hilton HHonors members, the Hilton Narita goes for 10,000 points - a true bargain, with a nice breakfast to boot. New Year's ceremony at the Narita-san temple should be very interesting and festive, and then you can stop for a few toasts - or more- to the new year at The Barge Inn pub on Ometesando on your way to / from Narita-san.

The Hilton provides shuttle service to / from the airport and downtown Narita. The Barge Inn (a UK-type pub I believe is owned by some Virgin crewies) also provides some transport options as well.

I have been to Meiji Jingu on New Years and I'll be there again this New Years Eve.
One of the main reasons is that I went/am going with my Fiance and it's his local shrine - and his family have been going there for a few generations.

If I was determined to stay in a hotel that night, I would consider going to the shrine at Narita, it's almost the equivalent of Canterbury Cathedral in the UK as an important pilgrimage site.

Here's what to expect during a night out at the shrine. Get there EARLY! At the Jingu shrine about 3 million people visit there over a 24 hour period (that's more people than go to Mecca in a year). Try and get there for about 11pm.

The crowds are unbelievably well organised. You can enter the Park where the shrine stands from several gates. When you arrive, you will be herded into a big group and you all shuffle along following a line of police holding a huge yellow banner. People will bunch towards the front, but if you lag behind a little it won't become claustrophobic for the most part. The sytem works pretty much like the barriers they erect across stadiums at big concerts to help stop fatalaties from crushing at the front.
What everybody does once they finally do get to the shrine is throw 5 yen pieces (traditionally 40) and any other cash they want to donate. I don't think the priests will much value foreign currency when they sweep up the loot, so try and get as many coins as you can to throw (it's quite beautiful to see them glittering in the light).
But the only time it gets truly claustrophobic is when you try to reach the barriers - that and being injured by falling coins from people throwing them behind you.
At 12 the priests will sound the bells (EDIT: this is incorrect for a shinto shrine).
Another thing to look out for are the festival stalls as you make your way out of the Shrine. They have traditional sweets (in garish colours - and sweet enough to make your teeth itch) and masks (OK, Pokemon isn't exactly traditional) and, as always, plenty of food (I recommend the tako-yaki - octopus balls, I've never met anybody who didn't like them). There's also a traditional sweet sake drink which you won't find anywhere else. It's a partly fermented rice broth served hot - perfect on a cold night.
New Years Eve is also the only time I've ever seen Shinjuku strewn with litter - but it's pretty tame by European standards, so you can tell that for once, the Japanese youth are REALLY letting their hair down.
Whatever you do, have fun!

We haven't met, but if we do, I can be your first: I don't like those taco (octopus) treats! :) :)

We haven't met, but if we do, I can be your first: I don't like those taco (octopus) treats! :) :)

You don't like the fried octopus balls? I don't either. But have you noticed that they come 8 to the box? (kaching! rim shot!)

Bah! You must've tasted the Tokyo attempt at Takoyaki. Every Kansai person knows better than to eat that delicacy east of Kyoto. ;)

Another short thread in the Asia forum:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=300480

These overlapping fora can be confusing, sometimes.

OK, OK, OK,
would you like to suggest something our visitor might actually like to try from a festival food-stall at 3am? - something like yakisoba is probably a bit too demanding to eat standing up.

OK, OK, OK,
would you like to suggest something our visitor might actually like to try from a festival food-stall at 3am? - something like yakisoba is probably a bit too demanding to eat standing up.
Hey, I generally hate octopus (not squid, which I am merely indifferent to), but takoyaki is the best way I know of to make it palatable.

And yakisoba is classic festival food! When bought from a stall, it comes in a little plastic box, so just hold it in one hand and chopstick with the other. If you don't know how to use chopsticks... let's just say you'll learn very fast once in Japan :D

... and that means that the sweet 'sake' soupy drink (I've forgotten what it was called) was not even vaguely alcoholic this year.
Hope nobody tried it.

Thought I'd resurrect this post as it's nearly that time of the year again.

I decided I'd try and find out what the 108 'sins' were. Each of the 108 chimes of the bell they sound at midnight is supposed to purge one of these from you.

Now I understand why nobody could tell me what the 108 'sins/desires' actually were. It's more of a mathematical formula than a comprehensive list:

There are 6 senses (Eyes, ears, mouth, nose, skin, mind)

times this by 3 (which relates to time: past, present and future)

gives you 18

times this by 2 (whether your heart is pure or impure at the time)

makes 36

times by 3 (how you might feel about 'it' at the time; like it, dislike it, don't actually care)

Gives you a total of 108 potential 'outcomes' of your desires


Didn't realise priests from the past were actually spritual 'economists'.

Very cool Laplap.....cheers for posting it! ^

I never got close enough to Meiji Jingu on New Years Eve to realise this, but there aren't any bells struck there. Or at any other Shinto shrine.

Seems obvious now that I posted an explanation but

Bells at Buddhist Temples (ie Asakusa, Narita)

Drums at Shinto shrines

So my sins didn't get purged at New Year (just everything else did as I became la Señorita Kagawa - PICKLES will understand this - thankfully this will not be my married name) and I visited Meiji Jingu in the morning instead.

Mr LapLap visited the night before without me: try to get to the shrine for 11:15pm at the latest. He was amongst the second 'batch' allowed to the front after midnight and was back in Yoyogi by 1am.
On previous years we've arrived at the park by 11:45pm and have spent over 3 hours queuing, arriving earlier seems to make a huge difference.

When visiting the next day at 1pm, the queues were still quite large. The visit took over an hour.

So my sins didn't get purged at New Year (just everything else did as I became la Señorita Kagawa - PICKLES will understand this - thankfully this will not be my married name) and I visited Meiji Jingu in the morning instead.


I don't know, I'd rather be
Señorita Cometa (http://www.arch.usyd.edu.au/~rsos7705/nostalgias/senoritacometa.html) instead, but congratulations anyway!

On previous years we've arrived at the park by 11:45pm and have spent over 3 hours queuing, arriving earlier seems to make a huge difference.

When visiting the next day at 1pm, the queues were still quite large. The visit took over an hour.

I've found it doesn't pay to try and get up to the front in these large crowds at Meiji Jingu on New Years. While it may be of passing interest to be able to see what kinds of denominations people have tossed in (more than a few 10,000 Yen bills in there), it's tough trying to push one's way out (Kind of like trying to get off of the Yamanote at your stop during the rush hour and you're a few seconds too late because either you were daydreaming or standing way back away from the doors towards the middle of the car.)

Another reason not to stand at the front is that you can get hit in the back of the head by the coins people farther back are tossing in (How come they never throw bills? ;) ). Reminds me of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and getting hit, again in the back of the head, by flung pieces of toast. :o

I don't know, I'd rather be
Señorita Cometa (http://www.arch.usyd.edu.au/~rsos7705/nostalgias/senoritacometa.html) instead, but congratulations anyway!

Ah well, it was only for a day, the little strips of holy paper I was asked to swallow along with some water saw to that ;) . Miss Cometa seems to live in the same Universe as your cat! (I LOVE the link, thank you!).

Even if you don't try and get to the front of the crowd at the very end, it can still take a long time to make it through to the shrine before you can get out (you get coralled through a strict one way system) But I don't know what the point of doing this would be if you don't throw some coins and pay your respects at the end :confused: you might as well just visit Meiji Jingu on another unrelated day. I've never found the crowds at the end to be that hard to navigate through (they keep a channel open through the middle and there's no problem at all if you stick to the sides).

In periods where Tokyo ladies backcombed and lacquered their hair, it was usual for them to come home and shake out lots of coins. Just wear a hat and don't look behind you - it's not that bad.