A friend and I are going to be spending Christmas - New Year's and beyond in Japan. We've both been to Japan before on whirlwind tours so this time around we'd like to get an in-depth look at Japan through events (holiday or non-holiday!), such as Christmas Eve at a department store in Ginza, or New Year's at a temple in Asakusa, or a live concert. We'll be spending xmas - new year's in the Tokyo/Yokohama/Nikko and then heading down to Awaji/Ise via Kanazawa. Anyone have any suggestions for events or the best places to spend the holidays?

One of my favorite times of year when I lived in Japan was o-shogatsu (New Year's Eve/Day). If you want to have the full o-shogatsu experience, go to any soba shop wherever you are and have some soba on New Year's Eve. You can go to a shinto shrine and experience them ringing the temple bells at midnight as well. I prefer Meiji to other shrines because of the madhouse that it is. If you can make it out there, head to Cape Inubosaki in Choshi (past Narita) to watch the first sunrise of the new year. It's the furthest east point on Honshu, so it's a very popular place to watch the sunrise. Enjoy the festivities throughout New Year's Day. I love going to Meiji during the day as well. There are some great people-watching opportunities in Harajuku on New Year's - far more than usual.

If you happen to be in a small town in the countryside where they have trouble finding 108 bell-ringers, you may even be invited to participate, as I was last year...

I'm not sure what you're aiming at for Chrsitmas/New Year or why you think these are 'in depth' activities.

Christmas Eve is essentially 'Valentine's Day'. To celebrate it Japanese style you'll need to:
find a date
book a table at a well regarded restaurant
find a room with a double bed with a 'romantic view'

The New Years visit to a Temple is a very Japanese thing to do - going to a concert isn't.

Do you actually want to do typically Japanese things during this trip? Or are you wanting to live out your own fantasies of what one 'should' do? Either is fine.

Don't forget the jewelry! Ah, sometimes I miss the bubble years....

Also don't forget that the Palace is open to everyone (with the Emperor and his family making regular appearances) soon after new year's day, isn't that on Jan 2?

Live concert on New Year's Eve? What do you expect, Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve? Actually, it would be more typically Japanese to sit in front of the TV watching the Kouhaku Uta Gassen (Red and White Song Competition), in which the top-selling male and female singers in all genres "compete," the men's team versus the women's team, for the approval of the studio audience. There's everything from Japanese hip-hop to elderly enka singers with tremolos like sine waves. It runs approximately 8PM to midnight.

The Kouhaku is actually done live in front of an audience, so I guess you could call that a "live concert." I think it is by invitation and pretty expensive. I don't think a foreign tourist would have a chance in h*** of getting tickets. Better to just stay in and watch it on TV.

JR

And if you can do this whilst sitting at a Kotatsu and eating mikan, drinking sencha and slurping toshi-koshi noodles you've nailed it.

Extra bonus points for aquiring a sequined kimono from Asakusa and singing along to the Matsuken Samba section.
All together now:

"Atsui, atsui, atsui, atsui

Esuperanza

Ore, ore, o-oo-ree,

Matsuken Samba...."

Ooohh my!! I had no idea he had released a third album/DVD.

For those who have no idea what we are referring to, the link Lap Lap provided has some videos. Scroll most of the way down to the screen cap of him singing and click on either the RMP or WMP link for a short clip. Keep in mind that Ken Matsudaira used to be one of the biggest sword wielding action-adventure stars on TV.

JR

IIRC, the Emperor's Palace is open on December 23 as well.

A nice, blond, Japanese man offered to help me, with just that, last weekend. He even gave me a run down on the costs, should regular nanpa fail. PM me for his name and keitai number. I'm sure he was legit, as our entire conversation was held outside a koban, and he even borrowed paper from the nice policeman, inside.

Alright, I appreciate all the responses, but I must admit that I am boggled.
Clarification on the live concert - it doesn't have to be on New Year's Eve, just sometime within the xmas-New Year's timeframe. I'm just looking for rare but authentic experiences (special occassions that a normal Japanese could, but would have to go out of their way, to do).

Is there something specific happening in Asakusa, or a specific temple there that would be good to visit? This is something I'm interested in but I just don't have the context to understand what you mean.

The arcade near Asakusa temple is HEAVING around this time as people from all over Tokyo and beyond descend on the shops to buy food and goods for the holidays.

One of the things you'll find here are copies of the sequined kimonos used by 'Matsuken'. If you open the link and scroll down and watch the video, the words will be put into context immediately and you'll quickly become acquainted with what has, for the time being at least, become a New Year Institution.

As for 'rare' experiences. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese take part in a sort of lottery to get tickets for Tokyo Disney entry on New Years Eve, only a fraction are successful. I guess this is the most indemand and 'rare' ticket available over this time. I'm also guessing this wasn't what you had in mind.

Most Japanese go to Shinto shrines for New Year, the Royal family go to Meiji Jingu for a special service there. MrLapLap and I have been going to Mount Takao earlier on New Years Eve for the past few years and watched the hush as people prepare for the evening. Mt Takao is a mountain sacred to Shinto, why not go there for New Years Eve at midnight and get the first train back in the morning?

Wrap up very, very warm though!