TA

Without thinking too much about it, I had booked a connection through Tokyo on Jan 1 where I have 8 morning/afternoon hours to spend after arriving NRT, departing HND.

Will most all retail kinds of places be closed? Food markets, restaurants, malls, shopping streets? Temples? Museums?

I imagine public transport will have a modified schedule, but be operating otherwise. I was thinking maybe if this is the case, go to see Mt. Takao or something since otherwise street life would probably be pretty dull. But maybe even that (cable car, etc) is closed?

Maybe it will have to be a day of enjoying the airport for me...

NewbieRunner

If you want something special on New Year’s Day I’d go for a “Hatsumode” at a temple or shrine. Expect these places to be packed. Some suggestions:

https://jw-webmagazine.com/7-most-vi...-ae0b05a6b9d4/
https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/things...es-and-temples

evergrn

Most things will be closed.
But konbinis will be open. All Seibu dept stores (which include Seibu, Pepe, Parco) should be open. Sky Tree should be open. Many things in Odaiba should be open. Shrines will be bustling with people doing hatsumode as noted above. Donqihote will be open.

evergrn

Btw, will you have luggage and, if so, what do you plan to do with it?
Your layover's 8 hours, correct?

If you decide to go straight to HND first to drop off your luggage, then I'd imagine you'll only have 3~3.5hrs left to go hang out till you have to be back at HND.

If you decide to head to, for example, Shinjuku and then find a place to store your luggage (if the lockers are full, then there is a storage service counter over near the bus terminal), then you'll still probably only have ~4 hrs left to go explore until you have to be back to Shinjuku to start heading towards HND in time for your flight.

It takes an hour or so each way just to get to the base of Takaosan from Shinjuku, and I'd imagine the place will be packed on New Years Day. (I've never been there on NYD, but another less-visited place Mitakesan was pretty crowded). It may be doable, but I seems kind of hectic.

LapLap

There’s a photo report here of a forum contributor who went up to Takao San at the beginning of 2018 (the first weekend of that year was on the 1st and 2nd of January).
Mount Takao hiking/walkaround logistics
As you can see, almost everything up there is open, but it is also very crowded.
Do check weather conditions before heading out though. It only takes an hour or so for the mountain to become coated in ice and snow. Makes a memorable experience but not one I would personally recommend.

TA

Yes, regardless of what particular activity I'll probably ditch my bags in one of the Y300/400 station lockers to be free to walk around. I guess I'll gauge when I'm there how much time is left and whether it feels reasonable to try for Takao. Could also be raining...

TA

Just to update with the result of my Jan 1 stopover.

In the end I elected not to go to Takao, since I arrived at Shinjuku around 2pm, and was departing from HND around 7:30pm. It would've taken me 1 hour to get to Takao, have maybe a hurried 1.5 hour there before having to head back, 1.5 hours to get to HND. Didn't feel it would be too relaxing, and I had been given information that there are typically long lines for the tramway, etc. at the mountain.

So instead I wandered around Nihombashi, Toyko station, palace view area for a bit (wanted to go try some famed exploding-with-flavor fruit at Sembikiya, but it turned out to be closed). Then I went to Omotesando with plans to walk around Meiji-jingu. On exiting the station, I was swamped by a sea of humanity apparently with the same idea of walking around on a nice day (it was clear blue skies). The street was packed, and both it and the station had a police presence to help manage the crowds. Many of the top retail places were open, but the "2nd tier" of shops were hit or miss open/closed. After wandering around for about 1 hour I headed to HND.

Thanks for the tips, all!

freecia

They would have gone even in a blizzard. The first shrine visit of the year is a traditional observance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsum%C5%8Dde and Meiji Jingu is particularly popular. Naritasan is also really popular.