Oshogatsu (January): The Year's Anchor
Oshogatsu Japan centers on the first three days of January, when families gather, most businesses close, and households work through a shared set of food and visiting customs.12 For residents, the week rewards a little preparation: shops shut, invitations arrive, and the customs themselves are easy to join once you know their shape.
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at Japan Post's official site and the store or facility pages listed in References.
Overview
The holiday is お正月 (oshōgatsu, "New Year"), the honorific form of shōgatsu, and it is widely described as Japan's most important holiday.1 Its formal core is January 1 to 3, known as 三が日 (sanganichi, "the first three days of January"), while the festive season in practice stretches from late December to around January 7, or January 15 in some regions.34
Japan has officially celebrated New Year on January 1 of the Gregorian calendar since 1873; before that, observance followed the lunisolar calendar.2 The customs below belong to the January 1 to 3 core. December 31 items such as year-crossing noodles and midnight bell-ringing sit outside this article and are noted only where the boundary matters.
The Jan 1 to 3 Formal Holiday: What Closes and What Stays Open
Government offices and many businesses close from December 29 to January 3.3 Only New Year's Day itself, 元日 (ganjitsu, "New Year's Day, January 1"), is formally recognized as a national holiday; the rest of the closure window is custom and administrative practice rather than statutory holidays.32
Convenience stores and some restaurants remain open even on New Year's Day (as of 2026-01; confirm current hours with each chain).3 More supermarkets and department stores reopen from January 2 (as of 2026-09).34 Many supermarkets close on January 1 and run reduced hours on January 2 to 3, while department stores typically close January 1 and reopen January 2 for New Year sales (as of 2026-09).4
Banks, post offices, museums, and galleries are typically closed from December 29 to January 3, and routine clinics are likely closed while emergency hospitals stay open (as of 2026-09).4 Major tourist attractions stay open with adjusted hours, and shrines and temples are open at their busiest (as of 2026-09).314
7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson hold normal hours through the holiday and stock hot meals and daily necessities, so they are the reliable fallback when supermarkets shut.4 Check your local store's posted hours rather than assuming the whole chain matches.
The planning shape for the week is simple enough to draw.
O-soji: The Year-End Cleaning
Households traditionally clean the home in December as preparation for the New Year.3 The deep clean is called 大掃除 (ōsōji, "great cleaning, year-end deep clean").4
O-soji carries spiritual significance beyond tidiness. Families purify the living space of the old year's dirt and bad luck to welcome the 年神 (toshigami, "deity of the incoming year").4 Traditional o-soji covers every corner of the home, including washing curtains, clearing out unused items, and cleaning the family altar where one is present.4
Offices take part too. Many workplaces hold their own version of o-soji in the final days of the year, so residents with office jobs usually meet the custom at work as well as at home.4
Osechi-Ryori: The Prepared New Year Meal
New Year mealtimes center on お節料理 (osechi-ryōri, "New Year cuisine"), an array of dishes with auspicious associations of longevity, prosperity, and health.3 The term traces to an imperial custom of seasonal-festival dishes, and the New Year festival became the most important of them.3
Osechi is customarily presented in 重箱 (jūbako, "layered lacquer boxes for New Year food").3 The dishes use ingredients that keep well, are prepared before year-end, and are eaten gradually over the first three days. The practice honors the visiting deity and gives household members a break from kitchen duties, so everything is designed to taste good served cold.3
Typical dishes include sweet simmered black beans, pureed sweet potato with candied chestnuts, herring roe, and seafood, each carrying its own auspicious meaning.1 Many households today buy individual dishes at supermarkets or order full sets from department stores or online vendors, including sets built around famous chefs' recipes. Western, Chinese, Korean, and other non-Japanese dishes have also become common.3
| Item | Amount | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple convenience-store osechi set | around 1,500 JPY | 2026-094 | Publisher-described range, varies by vendor |
| Premium restaurant osechi set | 50,000 JPY or more | 2026-094 | Pre-order weeks in advance; sells out |
Purchased osechi spans from around 1,500 JPY for a simple convenience-store version to 50,000 JPY or more for premium restaurant sets (as of 2026-09; confirm current prices with each vendor).4
Ozoni: Rice-Cake Soup
No New Year table is complete without zoni, a soup featuring mochi rice cake and vegetables.3 The dish is called お雑煮 (ozōni, "New Year rice-cake soup").1
Ingredients and flavoring vary widely by region and household, with dashi or miso stock depending on the area, plus meat, fish, leafy greens, and other vegetables.31 A commonly described pattern is miso-based broth in western Japan and clear broth in eastern Japan, but household variation is the safer expectation (as of 2026-01).5 Ozoni is eaten on New Year's morning and is associated with strength and good fortune for the year (as of 2026-01).5
Otoshidama: New Year Money for Children
On New Year's Day, adult relatives give money to children.12 The gift is called お年玉 (otoshidama, "New Year money gift to children") and is handed out in small decorated envelopes called ぽち袋 (pochibukuro, "small decorative money envelope").12
Amounts scale with the child's age and the giver's closeness to the child (as of 2026-09; confirm current norms with the family members involved).45 Where there is more than one child, the amount is usually kept equal per child so no one feels slighted.2
| Recipient | Amount per child | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Young children | around 1,000 JPY | 2026-0945 | Corroborated across two publishers |
| Older children and teens | up to 10,000 JPY | 2026-0945 | Scales with age and closeness |
| Total per child across all relatives | around 30,000–50,000 JPY | 2026-094 | Single-publisher figure; treat as directional |
Pochibukuro envelopes are sold at convenience stores, stationery shops, and 100-yen shops from late December onward (as of 2026-09).4
Family Gathering and Nengajo Morning
Shogatsu is the time when it is customary for families to gather, and it is one of the few times of year when almost everyone has a holiday.1 The gathering itself is the center of the observance; the food and visits described in this article all serve it.
The morning brings the cards. 年賀状 (nengajō, "New Year greeting postcard") is sent to friends, relatives, colleagues, and business associates, often featuring the year's zodiac animal, and timed to arrive on January 1.12 Mid-December to the New Year holidays is the busiest season for post offices.1
Japan Post began accepting 2026-dated nengajo on 2025-12-15 and asked customers to post by 2025-12-25 for January 1 delivery (as of 2025-12; confirm current windows with Japan Post).6
Hatsumode in the First Week: Pointer Only
初詣 (hatsumōde, "first shrine or temple visit of the year") is one of the most important customs of the first three days of Shogatsu.3 Everything about doing it, including etiquette steps, crowd patterns, and charm and fortune mechanics, belongs to the sibling hatsumode article. This article treats the visit as a calendar fact only: it happens in the first week, and the sibling guide covers the how.
Butsudan: The Family-Altar Prayer
Some households maintain a 仏壇 (butsudan, "Buddhist family altar") and include cleaning it in the year-end o-soji.4 For those households, prayer and offerings at the altar form part of the New Year observance alongside the shared customs above. Households without an altar skip this element; it is not a general expectation.
Resident Experience: Joining In Without Local Family Ties
The holiday is family-focused, and foreign residents with Japanese family integrate into family observances directly. Residents without local family ties are often invited to friends' or coworkers' family events, and those options sit alongside traveling or relaxing at home.
Hatsumode is the most accessible entry point, since the first shrine visit is open to everyone regardless of nationality or religion (as of 2026-09).4 Tasting osechi from a department-store food hall or joining the January 2 sales needs no family connection either.34
Practical preparation covers the closure period. Stock up on groceries, medications, and essentials before December 31, keep cash on hand, and book intercity transport weeks in advance for December 28 to 31 and January 2 to 4 travel (as of 2026-09; confirm current schedules with each operator).4 Convenience stores then cover whatever the plan missed.4
Good to know
Mochi is a genuine choking hazard
Mochi causes deaths and hospitalizations every New Year, overwhelmingly among older diners. In the first three days of 2026, seven people aged 80 to 96 were hospitalized in Tokyo after choking on mochi, and one woman in her 80s died (as of 2026-01; confirm current safety guidance with the Tokyo Fire Department).7 Over the previous five years, 338 people were hospitalized for mochi or similar-food choking, with over 90 percent aged 65 or older and more than half of cases falling in December and January (as of 2026-01).7
The Tokyo Fire Department urges cutting mochi into small pieces, chewing well before swallowing, moistening the throat with tea or soup first, and closely supervising older diners and infants.78
Do not expect Dec 31 coverage here
Buckwheat noodles are eaten on omisoka, New Year's Eve, and Buddhist temples ring their bells 108 times at midnight to symbolize the 108 earthly temptations.2 Those December 31 items, including the year-crossing noodles and the bell-ringing, belong to the planned year-end sibling article. This article starts at January 1.
Otoshidama budgets add up across households
The per-child band looks small until it multiplies across every child of siblings, cousins, and close friends. Per-child bands of 1,000 to 10,000 JPY with totals of 30,000 to 50,000 JPY per child across relatives mean a giver with several recipient households faces a large aggregate outlay (as of 2026-09).4 The totals figure is single-sourced, so treat it as directional rather than surveyed fact.
Shrine crowds peak in the first three days
Major shrines and temples are at their most crowded during the first three days, and later in the first week is calmer. Hatsumode observance concentrates in those three days, which is the documented crowding pattern.3 Crowd figures, etiquette steps, and charm mechanics all belong to the sibling hatsumode article.
See also
- New-Year (Oshogatsu) and the Hatsumode Visit
- Tsukimi, Year-End, and Omisoka
- Year-End Greeting Cards (Nengajo)
- Shinto and Buddhism as Practice, Not Belief
- Ochugen and Oseibo: Japan's Gift-Giving Calendar
- Japan Konbini: The Convenience Store as Daily Infrastructure