edvasquez

I will arrive in Tokyo on Dec 29th and leave on Jan 10th. Is New Years in Tokyo worth spending 2-3 times more on a hotel from Dec 29-Jan 3rd or would you stay in Tokyo from Jan 5-10th at 1/3 of normal rates?

If New Years in Tokyo is not special then I can just take a train (hopefully) to somewhere like Kyoto or ??? to bring in the New Years. As an FYI, we brought in the New Years in London but found a decent/inexpensive option using Airbnb. I'm willing to pay if it's an experience worth having.

889

In Tokyo at this time you can visit the Imperial Palace and receive the Emperor's greeting. That's interesting of course, but on the whole Kyoto and its temples make a much better place to spend New Year's.

AlwaysAisle

In Japan New Year is a religious holiday. Hence many people make a visit to temple during New Year, and usually very busy. Even in a big city of Tokyo many places will be close during New Year. However, as you move out of big cities you will find more businesses will be closed.

It is a religious holiday so if you want to do what locals will do then that will be visiting temples but that will be very busy and not sure if that is what you are looking to do. Even in big city of Tokyo will find a lot of restaurants closed and one which is open will be very busy. Many sushi restaurants in Tokyo and other places will be close during New Year because fish market is closed during New Year. Museums tend to close during New Year, too.

For meals places you can count on being open during New Year are convenience stores and Denny’s type 24 hrs. family restaurants. For little nicer restaurants which are open on New Year tend to be very busy with advanced booked reservation. Restaurants at hotels can get busy too, because locals know that is one of places they can count on open if they want to eat out during New Year.

Think of old days of Christmas, which was a religious holiday and everybody spent time with family at home and many businesses were closed. New Year at Japan used to be like that but these days more businesses do open during New Year but same time still many businesses do close during New Year.

ainternational

I've been in Tokyo several times for NYE. Compared to the west, and even other Asian countries (Thailand, Taiwan, China), it was a serious letdown. No fireworks, few if any parties (except those geared towards westerners), and overall a somber and mellow experience. Depends what you are looking for but it's a far cry from Times Square to say the least!

BTW fireworks in Japan are the best in the world, just not for NYE!

Wongo

All the department stores are closed on NYD. I would miss it unless you want to check out what's happening at temple on NYD.

SQ319

Just a thought, because NY in Tokyo (and most of Japan) is a very quiet and family driven affair, perhaps u may want to consider going somewhere outside Japan for 1-2 days, if you're after a unique experience.

Among the cities nearby, both Hong Kong and Taipei does pretty fantastic NYE celebrations.

evergrn

Hotels in the center of Tokyo are definitely going to be pricier during the last few days of 2015 and the first few days of 2016. However, if you just travel out 15-20min outside of Yamanote line circle, the rates at a lot of hotels become about the same as any other time of the year... as long as you're okay staying a little further afield. Check hotel rates at places like Tachikawa and Kawasaki.


In general it's true that we don't do New Years fireworks in Jpn, but they do exist - as far as I know, they do them at Yokohama's Sea Paradise, USJ, and Haus Ten Bos. There may be others. There are actually many countdown events in Tokyo, if you seek them out. But no, it's not at all like Hong Kong.

NYE we get together as families, watch TV, go to sleep, then get together again on 1 Jan to have traditional Jpnese NY food (osechi ryori which I mostly detest, as well as ozouni which is okay). We make a quick trip to a nearby temple to pray, but I would say this is a lot more cultural for most of us rather than religious. But things are changing in Jpn. Even in my small hometown, you see families having lunch at Gusto and people sipping coffee as usual at Starbucks on NYD. As everyone says, overall New Years Day in Jpn is quite sedate.


Most dept stores are closed on 1 Jan, but all the Seibu ones are actually open on 1 Jan. Those include Seibu dept stores, Pepe, Parco. Lot of things in Odaiba are open on 1 Jan. Nearly all major dept stores in Tokyo should be open by 2 Jan.

If the OP is going to be in Jpn on 1 Jan anyways, I don't think Tokyo would be any worse than any other places in the country. In fact, Tokyo will have a lot more things open on 1 Jan and esp 2 Jan than most other cities in Jpn. Many major attractions will be open. Sky Tree, Tokyo Tower, most of Odaiba, Disney should all be open.

fimo

I assume you mean Huis Ten Bosch? Having spent a fair amount of time not far from the Dutch border, the urge to correct is strong... LOL. And to make sure people who google for info don't get confused.

evergrn

Sorry, you are correct!
I just typed it based on how Japanese people say it, but I should check spelling first.

fimo

Hey you did get it right phonetically - the dutch pronunciation is 'haus ten bos'. So I think we both shared useful info

mapleg

All trains heading from Tokyo to Kyoto area willl be sold out the few days before NYs. It is one of the busiest travel times of the year.

jamar

And I'm guessing the reverse happens a few days after? I'm kind of dealing with this as I plan a winter trip to Japan over the New Year period and I can't seem to get an award flight on either major carrier for ITM(or KIX)-HND(or NRT) on January 4th.

evergrn

I'm not sure about JL. But from what I've seen, NH does not release seats for award travel (in my case, using UA miles) until 2 months out.

jamar

I managed to book HND-ITM with JL on the 1st using Avios, so if nothing shows on JL it's not because they haven't opened up yet. We're looking at the Shinkansen or the Sunrise train (leaves Osaka at roughly midnight, arrives in Tokyo at 7 in the morning) for the return now given we couldn't get anything with the miles we have.

Gradfly

If you're trying to do Sunrise, I hope there's still availability when you arrive. Tried to book that particular route but from Hiroshima to Tokyo on my last trip, it was all booked out when I got to the ticket office. This was about two weeks before the my selected date, around New Year's. IIRC you can't book Sunrise seats from outside Japan. As soon as you land, I'd make those reservations first.