Hi,
Any idea if there is any New Year Eve celebration in Tokyo. I understand that its a public holiday on New Year, but thought there maybe some celebration in Tokyo for it.
Also, when does sale season start in Tokyo...after Xmas or New Year?
Thanks,
The most common New Year's Eve celebration is gather around their TV and watch kouhaku until the clock ticks over. Then hatsumode commences. Some people go to their local temples at the strike of midnight, while others go during the day.
The best sales of the year are on New Year's Day only. Most stores put together limited number of fukubukuro, a grab bag of goods. For example, you might be able to pick up a bundle of digital camera with tons of accessories for around 1/2 of the regular retail price of the camera itself. Some people camp outside of stores for fukubukuro--not dissimilar to the black friday sales in the US.
from a previous post (there are queries about New Year's Eve every year on this forum)
Quote:
Originally Posted by LapLap
My experience is solely in Tokyo at this time of the year.
1. For about three days you will find it very difficult to get money out of an ATM. The post office (the foreigners' friend) closes their ATMs for several days around New Year, Citibank might be kind to you, there is another thread about 7/11s accepting Cirrus/Plus cards, perhaps that might be an option. Nevertheless, you might want to consider having extra cash on you before the majority of the system shuts down.
2. Theme parks. Tokyo Disneyland runs a lotto system for New Years Eve tickets. By visiting the park in October/November you have the chance to take part in some kind of sweep for these extremely sought after tickets. If Universal Studios is even half as popular you might not even be able to get tickets in advance. Now would be a good time to approach this organisation and make enquiries if you are considering this plan.
By the time you get to Tokyo a couple of things will be closed, but it will be mostly business as usual. One thing to look out for are the 'lucky bags' which are a feature of Tokyo Sales. A store will pack, say, $200 of goods (perhaps more) into a bag/box and sell it for $50. The sting is that you might not know what you're buying.
Muji sometimes have a sample bag open (officially open or unofficially rifled by another client) and their bags tend to have uniform contents - for 5.000yen I once got a Spring coat, rain jacket, cotton shirt, wool cardigan, 2 pairs of socks, a couple of toiletries and a cloth bag. They often have his and her versions.
From Yodobashi Camera... uuuf, I could write an essay on this.
Bic Camera (MrLapLap isn't around... I'm safe!) might be a better bet as they are kinder when 'theming' their bags - I spent 6,000yen (then under £30) on a mystery mp3 player. I got an Olympus m:robe which I'm still delighted with, even a few years on I've yet to see a better one at anything near this price.
The other great thing about Lucky Bags is that you often end up with random goods along with the main ones - it solves so much of your gift purchasing hassles. The one sole doozy I ever had was a 'beer machine' that came with a much cherished digital camera - gas canisters are prohibitted on flights and I hate lager anyway.
All this might not yet make sense, but you should see for yourself what I'm talking about when you're in Japan. It's one of the many reasons why you might want plenty of cash on you.
To explain msb0b's post further, New Year's is a family-oriented holiday in Japan, not the big party night for young people, as it is in the West. The big party and date night is, believe it or not, Christmas Eve, although Christmas Day is just another workday for most Japanese.
The Kouhaku is a TV special in which the 40 best-selling singers and groups, 20 men and 20 women, "compete" by singing their hit songs. It's all hokey but provides an enjoyable and often intriguing view of Japanese pop culture, from squeaky, bouncy teen idols to singing drag queens to superannuated enka singers with sine-wave tremolos. Getting onto the Kouhaku for the first time means that you've made it in the world of Japanese pop music. Being dropped means that you're officially a has-been.
The program ends around midnight, at which point people head to their friendly neighborhood shrine to pray for good luck in the coming year. This rite is known as Hatsumoude.
