Photo by Samuel Berner on Unsplash
If you’ve ever landed in Tokyo on January 2nd expecting a normal day of ramen shops and department stores, you’ve probably stood in front of a shuttered storefront wondering where everyone went. Japan’s New Year holiday, known as Shogatsu (正月), is the one stretch of the calendar when the country genuinely slows down — not for a day, but often for the better part of a week. Understanding why it happens, and which dates matter most, makes the difference between a frustrating trip and a smooth one.
What Shogatsu Actually Is
Shogatsu traditionally runs from January 1st to January 3rd, though the lead-up (closing out the old year, known as oshogatsu junbi) and the tail end stretch the practical closure window from around December 29th to January 3rd. It’s less like Christmas in the West and more like a combined Thanksgiving-New Year hybrid: families return to their hometowns, visit shrines or temples for hatsumode (the year’s first prayer), eat a specific set of symbolic foods, and generally treat it as sacred family time rather than a shopping holiday. That’s the core reason businesses close — staff go home, and running a shop during Shogatsu is seen the way running a restaurant on Christmas Day might be seen elsewhere, except nearly every business observes it, not just a few.
What Actually Closes, and When
This is the part that catches visitors off guard, because the closures aren’t uniform — they vary by business type:
- Banks and post offices: Closed December 31 through January 3, every year, no exceptions. ATMs at convenience stores keep working, but bank-branch services and many Japan Post counters do not.
- Department stores: Most close for 1-2 days (commonly January 1st, sometimes 1st-2nd), then reopen with “hatsuuri” (first sale) events and famous fukubukuro lucky bags on January 2nd or 3rd. This is actually one of the best shopping windows of the year if you’re there for it.
- Small restaurants, izakaya, and family-run shops: Many close for 3-7 days, sometimes longer if the owner travels. A neighborhood ramen shop or sushi counter might simply vanish behind a shutter with a handwritten sign reading “年末年始休業” (closed for year-end/New Year) and no English translation.
- Museums, temples, and some attractions: Many museums close December 28-January 1 or later for annual maintenance, though major shrines are the opposite — they’re at their busiest, especially in the first three days.
- Markets like Tsukiji’s outer market and local fish markets: Typically closed for several days around January 1-3, which matters if your trip revolves around food markets.
What Stays Open
The good news: Japan doesn’t actually stop entirely. Convenience stores (Lami, 7-Eleven, FamilyMart) run 24/7 through the holiday without exception, and they become a genuine lifeline for New Year travelers — stocked with hot food, drinks, and even New Year’s specific items like osechi-style snacks. Large chain restaurants generally stay open too; Mos Burger and most other national fast-food and family-restaurant chains (Yoshinoya, Sukiya, Denny’s Japan) run close to normal hours, sometimes with a single-day closure on January 1st only. Major hotels, train stations, and big shopping malls like Aeon or Lalaport also tend to stay open, just with slightly reduced hours on the 1st. If you’re relying on supermarkets for cheap meals, note that discount timing shifts too — the same logic behind jikan wari biki discount windows still applies on days supermarkets are open, but many supermarkets close entirely on January 1st and sell out of prepared food fast on the 2nd and 3rd as people stock up before closures.
How to Plan Your Trip Around It
If your trip overlaps with December 29-January 3, build in slack rather than treating it as a normal travel week:
- Book dinner reservations well ahead for December 31-January 3. The restaurants that do stay open get booked out fast, and walk-ins may be turned away. If you’re traveling as a group, the booking advice in this guide to group travel in Japan on securing restaurant bookings in advance applies doubly during Shogatsu.
- Withdraw cash and handle banking before December 30th. With banks and many bank-affiliated ATMs offline for four days, and card issues harder to resolve when support lines are also short-staffed, it’s worth reading up on what to do if you lose or freeze a credit card in Japan before you go, since emergency replacement services also slow down over the holiday.
- Stock a few meals’ worth of convenience-store or supermarket food on December 30-31 if you’re staying somewhere with a kitchenette. It’s a common local habit — buying osechi (traditional New Year foods like kuromame black beans, kamaboko fish cake, and datemaki) a day or two early, since many supermarkets reduce hours or close entirely for January 1st.
- Visit a shrine for hatsumode, but go early or late to dodge peak crowds. Meiji Jingu in Tokyo draws over 3 million visitors across the first few days; smaller neighborhood shrines offer the same ritual with a fraction of the wait.
Budget, Mid-Range, and Splurge Options During Closures
On the budget end, convenience store New Year sets (osechi-style bento boxes around ¥1,000-2,500) and chain restaurants (meals around ¥500-900) will keep you fed without planning. Mid-range travelers can book a hotel that includes New Year’s breakfast or a single osechi-style dinner, often priced around ¥3,000-8,000 per person as a holiday add-on — many business hotels advertise this specifically because they know independent restaurants will be closed. For a splurge, some ryokan and hotel restaurants run special New Year kaiseki courses from ¥15,000-40,000+ per person that are only available this week and need to be booked a month or more in advance; this is genuinely one of the better ways to experience Shogatsu food culture as a visitor, since you won’t be cooking osechi yourself.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The biggest mistake is assuming closures only affect the 1st — in reality the safest planning window is “assume everything small is closed December 31-January 3, and double-check anything you plan to do December 29-30 and January 4-5 too.” Another common error is trying to exchange currency or sort out banking issues on January 1st or 2nd, when counters are shut; sort that out before December 30th. Travelers also sometimes assume train and bus services reduce the way shops do — they don’t close, but they do run holiday schedules with reduced frequency, so it’s worth checking timetables rather than assuming weekday service. If sightseeing by guided bus is part of your plan, note that operators like Hato Bus and Sky Bus Tokyo often run modified or limited schedules around January 1st, so confirm departures directly rather than assuming standard hours apply.
None of this means you should avoid visiting Japan during Shogatsu — the hatsumode crowds, the quiet streets on January 1st morning, and the lucky-bag shopping frenzy a day or two later are genuinely memorable experiences you won’t see any other time of year. You just need to shop, eat, and bank a little differently than you would on a normal week.