New Year’s Eve 2026 in Tokyo

By the ULTIMATE Tokyo Editorial Team

Above the city: the hotel countdowns

At Park Hyatt Tokyo, high above Nishi-Shinjuku, the New York Bar’s Countdown Package welcomes 2027 from 10pm with Champagne, canapés, live music and a toast at midnight (¥44,275). Below it, the New York Grill serves New Year’s Eve dinner in two seatings: the first from 5.30pm (¥44,275, or ¥67,045 with wine), the second from 9pm and running through the countdown (¥75,900, or ¥101,200 with wine).

Aman Tokyo, in Ōtemachi, plans a six-course Cenone gala dinner at Arva, its Italian restaurant, with seasonal Japanese ingredients, Prestige Champagne and live music, followed by a New Year’s countdown with live music, Champagne and Aman Tokyo’s own caviar. The hotel prints no times or prices: book through Aman Tokyo directly.

In Nishi-Shinjuku, Hyatt Regency Tokyo holds its countdown dinner with festive dishes, free-flowing Champagne and a live set from the band Bloodest Saxophone and a DJ, ending under the three crystal chandeliers of its eight-storey atrium at midnight.

Our advice: the best tables by the windows go first; book this month, and ask for a room upstairs so the night ends in a lift, not a taxi queue.

Park Hyatt Tokyo: New York Bar and New York Grill, New Year’s Eve →   Aman Tokyo: festive season 2026–2027 →   Hyatt Regency Tokyo: New Year’s Eve countdown dinner →

A whole Japanese New Year under one roof: Hotel New Otani

Hotel New Otani, beside its Japanese garden in Kioichō, keeps the most complete New Year in the city, from 31 December 2026 to 3 January 2027. On New Year’s Eve, the Bella Vista on the 40th floor holds its countdown from 10.30pm to 12.30am, with dinner, free-flowing Champagne and live music above the night view (¥39,000, ages 10 and over, booking required).

Earlier, the New Otani Orchestra and Chorus give a New Year’s Eve gala concert built around Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in the Tsuru banquet room, from 8.45pm to 10.15pm. Trader Vic’s Tokyo has its own countdown party from 10pm, with a mini mai tai, a chef’s menu and Tahitian dancing (over-14s), and from 10.30pm the hotel serves toshikoshi soba, the noodles eaten to cross into the new year (¥1,800).

Our advice: stay on for New Year’s Day, when the hotel has a lion dance, taiko drums in the garden, mochi pounding and a first tea ceremony, and serves osechi, the New Year feast, at breakfast (¥9,500).

Hotel New Otani Tokyo: New Year 2027 →   Hotel New Otani Tokyo: お正月プラン (Japanese) →

Music for the last night: Suntory Hall and Shiba Park

Suntory Hall in Akasaka marks the night with its Silvester Concert 2026, built on highlights from Johann Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus, the Viennese way to end a year. Hotel New Otani sells a package for the concert with a return coach to the hall (¥20,000 per person, booking required).

Below Tokyo Tower, The Prince Park Tower Tokyo’s New Year Plan 2027 welcomes the year with a countdown show in which a million soap bubbles drift into the night sky, part of stays with dinner for families of three generations.

Our advice: Tokyo Tower is a few minutes’ walk from both the Prince Park Tower and Zōjō-ji; after midnight, the walk between them is one of the loveliest of the year.

Hotel New Otani: Silvester Concert 2026 package →   The Prince Park Tower Tokyo: New Year Plan 2027 →

Ōmisoka and Shōgatsu: bells, first prayers and the first sunrise

Ōmisoka, the last day of the year, is a family night in Japan. Just before midnight, temples ring their bells 108 times in joya no kane, one stroke for each of the worldly desires of Buddhist teaching; at some temples, visitors may ring the bell themselves.

Zōjō-ji, the great temple of Shiba with Tokyo Tower rising behind it, rings its bell at midnight, then holds the first service of the new year at 12am; its own calendar says the main hall stays open from New Year’s Eve until 5.30pm on New Year’s Day.

Hatsumōde, the first visit of the year to a shrine or temple, is spread over the first three days of January. Meiji Jingū receives more visitors than anywhere else in Japan, and Sensō-ji in Asakusa is the other great draw; many people set out late on New Year’s Eve to be there at midnight. Expect long, orderly queues.

Our advice: buy an omamori charm and draw an omikuji fortune. On 1 January many shops are closed; the sales and the fukubukuro, the mystery bags, begin around 2 January.

Zōjō-ji: annual events (Japanese) →   GO TOKYO: Tokyo in December →   GO TOKYO: Tokyo in January →   Japan National Tourism Organization: the New Year season →

Fireworks, Shibuya and getting home

Tokyo has no official public fireworks display on New Year’s Eve. Shibuya City reports that the countdown event at Shibuya station was not held on the last two New Year’s Eves, and no event has been announced for 2026; when we checked, Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Skytree had not announced New Year’s Eve plans either.

On 2 January, the Imperial Palace opens its grounds for the New Year greeting, when members of the Imperial Family appear several times through the day. In January, too, the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament fills the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.

Our advice: railway lines publish their New Year’s Eve timetables in December; check yours before you plan the journey home, and dress warmly for midnight queues at the shrines. For the season before, see our <a href="christmas-in-tokyo.html">Christmas in Tokyo</a>.

Shibuya City: countdown event notice (Japanese) →

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