Headed to Tokyo around New Year, what's closed and what can't I miss?
November 23, 2015 12:07 PM Subscribe
I am going on vacation! To Tokyo! I will be there from Christmas to a few days after the new year, and I've seen a lot of people saying their office is closed for that week.
As a first timer and tourist, what can I expect to be disrupted by the New Year's holidays? Transit? Restaurants? Museums? Is there anything going on I positively must see?
If you get a chance I recommend seeing the emperor. Here's the website with details , I was lucky enough to be part of this very unquie experience last time I was in Tokyo and have been recomending it to all winter travlers since. (website is for 2015, hopefully it will be updated soon)
posted by lepus at 1:36 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by lepus at 1:36 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Transit will be running although may be on a weekend/holiday schedule. Banks will be closed. I don't know if ATMs will be (they used to be, but that was some time ago). Restaurants will be open around the shrines but I don't know about restaurants in general, but if everything else is closed at the very least the convenience stores will be open and will have food. Museums will post their holiday hours on their website so you can check ahead of time. I remember going to Japan once in May and found out that the Ghibli museum was closed during the period I would be visiting Tokyo.
I guess you should go to a shrine because it is a big event and when else are you going to get a chance to do it, but like many (most?) big events in Japan it will involve a lot of waiting in crowds for very little pay-off. Maybe just go to the entrance of the temple and get some castela, candied fruit, sweet potato fries, chestnuts or karaage. That way you can get some of the experience without waiting in line forever. Full disclosure, every time I have been in Japan over New Year's I went to a shrine but that is because I go with family.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:38 PM on November 23, 2015
I guess you should go to a shrine because it is a big event and when else are you going to get a chance to do it, but like many (most?) big events in Japan it will involve a lot of waiting in crowds for very little pay-off. Maybe just go to the entrance of the temple and get some castela, candied fruit, sweet potato fries, chestnuts or karaage. That way you can get some of the experience without waiting in line forever. Full disclosure, every time I have been in Japan over New Year's I went to a shrine but that is because I go with family.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:38 PM on November 23, 2015
Best answer: I did this for my first time in Japan and had a wonderful time because I went in fully expecting to be surrounded by crowds all the time. I loved watching everyone with their families - so many tiny children in tiny festival clothes, eeee, so many Japanese tourists gawking at the same things you're gawking at - and adopted the attitude of not caring if my plans went awry.
Just go outside and follow the sound of people and the smell of food to a festival or shrine. Eat something amazing on a stick. I suggest roasted corn! The only corn I've had that rivaled Mexican street corn was corn from a New Year's festival in Tokyo.
One of my favorite life experiences was walking up to the famous Meiji Shrine. Yes, it will be flooded with people, but it turns out that the approach to the shrine is adjacent to a gorgeous park and through a winding path in a beautiful forest. Everyone was jovial but calm, quiet, with only a murmur of conversation, so I could really appreciate people watching and the caretakers' work to make the forest so beautiful even in winter. And once you get to the shrine the attitude of cheerful calm persists, and it is just so beautiful. It is famous for a reason; I loved the architecture, the proportions of everything.
Once you're there I suggest buying an ema (those little boards you write prayers on) fill it out with New Years wishes and hang it up. You will see lots of different languages on the ones already there, which is pretty cool, and I just like the whole sensory experience. It is also a great place to get cute but non-cheesy souvenirs in the form of charms. (I got my friend one that was supposedly blessed for safe driving because she'd just gotten her license for driving on the right side of the road after being a teenager in Britain for a while. She still has it on her rear view mirror!) You don't have to wait in the super long line to ring the bell unless you want to, although I did this in another shrine closer to midnight farther out from the city center and felt great.
It will be a smart move for you to scope out the closest and best convenience store to where you're staying. They will probably have New Years hours posted or be open the whole time. Also, many of them will have ATMs that do international withdrawals. Utilize convenience stores liberally. They often have plenty of great, casual food that is made fresh nearby, and honestly conveeny lunch/snack/fourth meal is a grand Tokyo tradition. I suggest the onigiri with weird stuff in it.
posted by Mizu at 3:52 PM on November 23, 2015
Just go outside and follow the sound of people and the smell of food to a festival or shrine. Eat something amazing on a stick. I suggest roasted corn! The only corn I've had that rivaled Mexican street corn was corn from a New Year's festival in Tokyo.
One of my favorite life experiences was walking up to the famous Meiji Shrine. Yes, it will be flooded with people, but it turns out that the approach to the shrine is adjacent to a gorgeous park and through a winding path in a beautiful forest. Everyone was jovial but calm, quiet, with only a murmur of conversation, so I could really appreciate people watching and the caretakers' work to make the forest so beautiful even in winter. And once you get to the shrine the attitude of cheerful calm persists, and it is just so beautiful. It is famous for a reason; I loved the architecture, the proportions of everything.
Once you're there I suggest buying an ema (those little boards you write prayers on) fill it out with New Years wishes and hang it up. You will see lots of different languages on the ones already there, which is pretty cool, and I just like the whole sensory experience. It is also a great place to get cute but non-cheesy souvenirs in the form of charms. (I got my friend one that was supposedly blessed for safe driving because she'd just gotten her license for driving on the right side of the road after being a teenager in Britain for a while. She still has it on her rear view mirror!) You don't have to wait in the super long line to ring the bell unless you want to, although I did this in another shrine closer to midnight farther out from the city center and felt great.
It will be a smart move for you to scope out the closest and best convenience store to where you're staying. They will probably have New Years hours posted or be open the whole time. Also, many of them will have ATMs that do international withdrawals. Utilize convenience stores liberally. They often have plenty of great, casual food that is made fresh nearby, and honestly conveeny lunch/snack/fourth meal is a grand Tokyo tradition. I suggest the onigiri with weird stuff in it.
posted by Mizu at 3:52 PM on November 23, 2015
We did this last year and it was a blast, though food was tricky on January 1 itself in Kyoto - we decided to have some nice meals in restaurants in big hotels and it was fine in the end. There is a good guide to what's closed/open at the excellent Japan Guide site here.
posted by mdonley at 5:29 PM on November 23, 2015
posted by mdonley at 5:29 PM on November 23, 2015
Best answer: Public transit will be fine, and after the 30th or so it will be less crowded than usual, as a lot of people leave town for the holidays. Some trains will be running all night on the night of December 31/January 1. ATMs will be open. Most museums will be closed for a few days, so check websites for schedules.
Most stores and restaurants in Tokyo will be closed on January 1, and may have limited hours on Dec. 31 and Jan. 2. Smaller restaurants and shops may be closed for several days, but there will be plenty of places open by January 2, especially in shopping districts like Shinjuku, Shibuya, etc. For January 1 itself, hotel restaurants will at least be open, and there will be random other restaurants that are open, along with convenience stores.
Check out a shrine or two; you can just wander around without waiting on line if you like. Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi Park has three million visitors during the first five days of January.
posted by Umami Dearest at 5:55 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Most stores and restaurants in Tokyo will be closed on January 1, and may have limited hours on Dec. 31 and Jan. 2. Smaller restaurants and shops may be closed for several days, but there will be plenty of places open by January 2, especially in shopping districts like Shinjuku, Shibuya, etc. For January 1 itself, hotel restaurants will at least be open, and there will be random other restaurants that are open, along with convenience stores.
Check out a shrine or two; you can just wander around without waiting on line if you like. Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi Park has three million visitors during the first five days of January.
posted by Umami Dearest at 5:55 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:53 PM on November 23, 2015