By Harry Nara · Last updated
- The gates open through the nightThursday 31 December 2026
- Where
- Meiji Jingu
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- January
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
The custom runs across the first three days of January and the dates do not move. Meiji Jingu stays open through the night of 31 December into the morning of 1 January, then keeps extended hours on the 2nd and 3rd before returning to normal sunrise-to-sunset opening.
The entire question here is timing, and almost nobody tells you that. Meiji Jingu takes around three million visitors across the first three days of the year, and at the worst of it the walk from the outer gate to the main hall, which is a ten minute walk on any ordinary day, takes three hours. But the crush is not constant and it is not unavoidable. The gates open very early, and in the first hours of the morning there is often no queue at all. The people standing in line for three hours are, almost without exception, the ones who arrived in the middle of the day because that is when it felt like a reasonable hour to visit a shrine.
What Hatsumode actually is
Hatsumode is the first shrine or temple visit of the new year, and it is the most widely observed custom in Japan. The shape of it is simple. You walk in, you queue, you toss a coin into the offertory box, you bow twice, clap twice and bow once, and you say silently what you are hoping for. Then you draw an omikuji fortune slip, tie it to a rack if it turns out badly so the bad luck stays at the shrine rather than following you home, and buy an omamori charm for the year ahead. Meiji Jingu, dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and set inside a man-made forest of a hundred thousand donated trees in the middle of the city, receives more New Year visitors than anywhere else in the country. It is not a solemn occasion. It is a very large, very good-natured crowd standing in the cold doing something together.
Where to watch Hatsumode
- Meiji Jingu in the first hours of the morning, and this is the pick. The gates open long before dawn and the early stretch is the whole trick. Arrive then and the walk from the great cypress torii to the main hall is a walk. Arrive at lunchtime and it is a three hour shuffle through a switchbacked queue with no view of the front. Same shrine, same day, entirely different experience.
- Meiji Jingu on the second or third day rather than the first. The pressure is heaviest on the first day and drops off noticeably afterwards. The custom covers all three days, so going later costs you nothing except the ability to say you went first.
- Kanda Myojin, for a queue you can see the end of. A shrine associated with business fortune, which through an accident of geography has become the shrine of the technology industry as well, because Akihabara is a few minutes down the hill. It sells charms for the protection of your data alongside the traditional ones. Busy, but on a scale a person can cope with.
- Sensoji in Asakusa, for the temple version. Second only to Meiji Jingu for New Year numbers, and a completely different atmosphere: the approach through Nakamise is lined with stalls, there is incense smoke everywhere, and it feels like a fairground where Meiji Jingu feels like a forest.
- Your nearest neighbourhood shrine, for the version residents actually do. Every neighbourhood has one. They are all performing the same rite, most of them have a barrel of amazake going, and you walk straight up to the offertory box without queueing at all. If you want to understand the custom rather than photograph the crowd, this is the better choice.
Tickets and what it costs
Nothing charges admission, at Meiji Jingu or anywhere else. What you spend is small and traditional. The offering coin is customarily a five yen piece, because the word for five yen sounds like the word for a good connection, and the amount genuinely does not matter beyond the pun. A fortune slip runs a couple of hundred yen and a charm around a thousand, sold from booths that are open through the night. Food and drink stalls line the approaches and take cash. What you should budget for instead is the fact that a great deal of Tokyo is shut: many restaurants and small shops close for the first three days of the year, and the ones that open charge holiday prices.
Official information and booking: www.meijijingu.or.jp/en
Getting there
Meiji Jingu has two ends and using the right one matters. Harajuku on the Yamanote line and Meiji-jingumae on the Chiyoda and Fukutoshin lines both open onto the southern approach, which is the famous one and the congested one. Yoyogi and Kitasando serve the northern approach, which is shorter, quieter and lets you out much closer to the main hall. On the night of the year end the metro and JR run through the night, which is unusual enough that it is worth knowing, and it is how most people get there for the first hours of the morning. During the day expect station exits near the shrine to be one-way or closed and expect to be walked in a loop by stewards.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Arriving in the middle of the day on the first day
This is the single decision that separates a ten minute walk from a three hour queue. The crowd builds through the late morning and peaks in the early afternoon on the first day of the year. Go at first light, or go on the third day, and the whole thing becomes pleasant.
Going only to the most famous shrine
Meiji Jingu is extraordinary and it is also the most crowded place in the country that week. A neighbourhood shrine gives you the actual custom with no queue and no stewards, and most visitors never think to look for one.
Assuming the city is open
It is the biggest holiday of the Japanese year. Many restaurants, small shops and some museums close for the first three days, and plenty of the ones that stay open run reduced hours. Convenience stores and the big chains carry on regardless, but a plan built on a particular restaurant will not survive.
Getting the etiquette wrong at the offertory box
Two bows, two claps, then a moment of silence, then one final bow. Nobody will correct you and nobody minds, but it takes ten seconds to learn and it is the difference between joining in and watching.
Keeping a bad fortune slip
If the omikuji you draw is a poor one, the custom is to tie it to the rack provided and leave it behind, which is the entire point of the ritual. Folding it into your wallet as a souvenir means carrying the thing you came to get rid of.
Other Tokyo events
Frequently asked questions
What is hatsumode?
The first shrine or temple visit of the new year, and the most widely observed custom in Japan. You make a small offering, bow twice, clap twice and bow once, draw a fortune slip and usually buy a charm for the year. It is done in the first three days of January, and something close to the whole country does it.
How long is the queue at Meiji Jingu?
It swings enormously. At the peak of the first day, the walk from the outer gate to the main hall takes around three hours instead of the usual ten minutes. In the first hours of the morning, before the day builds, there is frequently no queue at all. Timing is the whole difference and it is entirely within your control.
When is the best time to go?
Early morning, and preferably not the first day. The gates open well before dawn and the early stretch is the calmest the shrine gets all week. Failing that, the second and third days are considerably lighter than the first, and the custom covers all three.
Do you need a ticket or a booking?
No. Every shrine and temple is free to enter and none of them take reservations for this. Bring some coins for the offering and a little cash for a fortune slip or a charm, since the booths do not take cards.
Where else can you go besides Meiji Jingu?
Sensoji in Asakusa is the big temple alternative and has a fairground feel. Kanda Myojin is busy but manageable and has become the shrine of the technology industry through its closeness to Akihabara. Best of all, any neighbourhood shrine will be doing exactly the same thing with no queue, which is what most residents actually do.
Is anything open over the New Year in Tokyo?
Less than you expect. Many restaurants and independent shops close for the first three days, some museums too, and department stores open late and then throw open the year’s biggest sales. Convenience stores, chain restaurants and the trains all run normally, and the trains run all night on the year’s final night.
Sources
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.