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 Seņorita 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.