Hatsumode in Tokyo: 2024 New Year temple and shrine visits

The New Year’s celebrations at Gohyakurakanji begin with the temple’s annual toshikoshi soba (end-of-the-year noodles) event. Toshikoshi soba is traditionally eaten on New Year’s Eve and the long noodles are a symbol for a long life. To be part of the occasion, make a reservation by phone (03 3792 6751) and pick up your ticket (¥700) at the temple office before 8.50pm on December 31.

Only 150 people will have the chance to taste the traditional dish, which will be served from 6pm until 9pm at the on-site Rakan Chaya teahouse. Participants will be divided into three groups (6pm-7pm, 7pm-8pm and 8pm-9pm), so let the temple know your preferred time when making your reservation.

If you would like to participate in the traditional joya no kane bell-ringing ceremony, book your ticket using the same phone number. The event is limited to 108 people and costs ¥1,000. You can ring the bell between 7pm and 8.30pm, but make sure to pick up your ticket at the temple office by 8.20pm latest.

Asakusa's Sensoji Temple is one of the most popular venues for hatsumode. You'll be waiting in line along the Nakamise shopping street, which is decked out with New Year decorations and stalls selling seasonal memorabilia and souvenirs.

When you reach the temple, throw a ¥5 coin into the box and make your wish. While the temple grounds are open round-the-clock, the stalls have varied closing times, usually around 7pm.

Kanda Shrine is home to Tokyo’s biggest traditional festival, the Kanda Matsuri, but it’s also the sacred place to visit when you’re looking for a boost of luck at work. The New Year festivities start on January 1 at 12 midnight when the temple gate opens to the first sounds of taiko drums in the New Year. On the shrine’s website, you can even see a live-stream of the New Year crowds. The shrine also sells its omamori lucky charms and omikuji fortune slips online.

The Ikegami Honmonji temple complex, situated on a lush hill and rising high above the buildings around Ikegami Station, is one of the most popular hatsumode spots in Tokyo’s Ota ward. Enter the grounds from the large stone staircase, but make sure to follow the left line when queuing as the right one is exclusively for those who booked a special New Year’s ceremony with the temple monks.

If you would like to join the traditional joya no kane bell-ringing ceremony, make sure to pick up a numbered ticket at 11pm at the temple’s bell tower. You’ll find it on the left side after stepping through the gate. Only 600 groups of up to six people each are allowed to participate in this free event.

Yasukuni, one of Tokyo’s grandest shrines, opens its gates for its New Year's festivities at 11.30pm on December 31. After making your first prayer of the New Year, make sure to pick up an omamori lucky charm or shinsatsu amulet and write down your wish for 2024 on an ema votive plate. The New Year celebrations at Yasukuni Shrine last until January 4, with a variety of events to enjoy.

The shrine hands out cups of sake and amazake daily from 9am to 4pm until January 4. From 10am on January 3, you can enjoy a Japanese archery event, while traditional performing arts are held daily until January 4. 

Meiji Shrine is one of the most popular places in Tokyo to wish for a happy new year. The shrine stays open throughout the night for your hatsumode visit. At the back of the shrine, after praying and donating, you’ll find a shop filled with special items to celebrate the new year, including omikuji fortune slips and ema (wooden plaques you can write wishes on) stamped with the zodiac animal of the new year – it's a dragon for 2024.

Celebrate hatsumode at Zojoji Temple with the illuminated Tokyo Tower in the background. Get there before midnight to hear joya no kane, the Buddhist act of ringing the temple's bell 108 times. Once the clock strikes midnight, get in line to donate a ¥5 coin and make your wish for the new year. 

There is also a jobone ritual from 11pm, where wishes from the previous year’s hatsumode are burned.

Most hatsumode events attract huge crowds. Hie Shrine, known for its vermilion torii gates reminiscent of Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Shrine, thankfully has a relatively quieter turnout. After saying your first prayers of the new year, check out the ema (wooden prayer plaques); they're decorated in over one hundred designs.

One of Japan’s prized New Year’s traditions is waking up at dawn on New Year’s Day to catch the sunrise. It even has its own word in Japanese: geikosai, literally meaning ‘festival to welcome the light’. At Mt Takao, just 50 minutes by train from Shinjuku Station, you can see the sunrise and get in a hatsumode visit at the same time. 

Starting at midnight, the head priest of Yakuoin Temple will perform several goma fire rituals, culminating in a great screech of conches as the sunrise ignites the mountain summit at around 6.50am. The cable car runs throughout the night and brings you half-way up the mountain, while the lift starts operating from 5am on January 1.

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Tokyo Daijingu, a 'love power spot' popular for weddings, is opening its doors from 11pm on December 31. However, if you visit sometime during the first three days in January between 8am and 10am, you could be one of the lucky 1,000 worshippers each day to be given a small lucky charm featuring the 2022 tiger zodiac sign. The only requirement: you’ll have to buy an omamori charm or shinsatsu amulet to go into the running for the prize.

Don't forget to fill out an ema, a wooden plaque you write a wish on. Besides one with a tiger motif, you'll also find a special Rilakkuma character version this year. Since this is the shrine of love, we're hoping it'll work some magic.