Over New Year, roughly 29 December to 3 January, Japan does not shut down, but it changes shape: government offices, banks' counters, most clinics and many family-run restaurants close, while convenience stores, trains, big shrines and most chain supermarkets keep going, often on shorter hours. The days that catch visitors out are 31 December to 2 January. We run six licensed apartments in Tokyo and Sapporo and have hosted guests through the holiday in both cities; this is what we tell them before they arrive.
What actually closes in Japan over New Year?
Mostly the things run by small teams or by offices, for somewhere between three and six days. The Japanese name for the period is nenmatsu-nenshi, literally year end and year start, and it is the one week when much of the country is at home with family. The pattern below is what to expect; exact dates belong to each business, and they post them on the door from about mid December.
| What | Usually | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Convenience stores | Open, around the clock | Your fallback for food, cash and drinks |
| Chain supermarkets | Open most days, shorter hours, some shut on 1 January | Do one big shop on the 30th |
| Small restaurants and cafes | Often closed for several days | Check the notice on the door, or the map listing |
| Clinics and pharmacy counters | Mostly closed | Holiday clinics and #7119 (see below) |
| Government offices, bank counters | Closed, roughly 29 Dec to 3 Jan | Convenience store ATMs keep working |
| Trains | Running, often on a holiday timetable | Check the operator's December notice for New Year's Eve |
Why does a kitchen matter most between 31 December and 2 January?
Because those are the three days when eating out is hardest and the shops are thinnest, and a stove plus a fridge with a freezer turns them into a quiet holiday rather than a search for an open restaurant. All six of our apartments have a stove, cooking basics, a fridge with a freezer, a microwave, a rice cooker and a kettle (our own listing data, 16 October 2026).
The supermarkets fill up with New Year food in the last days of December: mochi rice cakes, soba noodles for New Year's Eve, and the boxed osechi dishes families eat on the first three days. Buying a little of each is the easiest way to eat the holiday the way the neighbours do. In a hotel room the same three days mean convenience store meals or a queue at the few places that are open.
Are the shops near your apartments open over New Year?
The 24-hour convenience stores next to all three buildings are, and the supermarkets usually are with shorter days; one shop we know closes outright. The hours below are the regular ones we checked for our in-room guides in September 2026. The Sapporo drugstore closes on 1 January, and the others post their own holiday hours in December, so read the door notice when you shop on the 29th or 30th.
| Building | Nearest food shop | Regular hours |
|---|---|---|
| Kameari | Supermarket, 1 minute; convenience store, 2 minutes | 9:00 to 24:00; 24 hours |
| HEIWAJIMA | Supermarket and convenience store, 2 minutes | 10:00 to 23:00 (22:00 on holidays); 24 hours |
| SAPPORO NORTH | 24-hour supermarket, 5 minutes; convenience store, 2 minutes | 24 hours; 24 hours. Drugstore, 6 minutes, closed 1 January |
Tokyo or Sapporo for New Year: what is different?
Tokyo goes quiet and Sapporo goes white. Many Tokyo residents travel to their families for the holiday, so residential streets and commuter trains empty out while the big shrines and shopping districts fill up. Sapporo at New Year is deep winter: snow on the ground, short days, and a city that is busy with its own visitors (Sapporo in winter).
Our own numbers show the same split. In December 2025 our Sapporo rooms were 87.1% occupied against 78.5% in Tokyo, and in January 2026 83.9% against 80.6%. Across the full twelve months to September 2026 it ran the other way, Tokyo 85.0% and Sapporo 82.2% (measured 1 October 2026, method and monthly figures). In plain words: Sapporo is relatively fuller in midwinter than over the year, Tokyo relatively emptier.
| Our rooms | December 2025 | January 2026 | 12 months to Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 78.5% | 80.6% | 85.0% |
| Sapporo | 87.1% | 83.9% | 82.2% |
| All six rooms | 81.9% | 81.9% | 83.7% |
Where to go for hatsumode, the first shrine visit of the year
Hatsumode is the first visit to a shrine or temple in the new year, and most people make it between 1 and 3 January. The famous ones, Meiji Jingu in Tokyo or Hokkaido Jingu in Sapporo, mean long queues on those days. A neighbourhood shrine gives you the same ritual with almost no wait.
Near our doors: Kameari Katori Shrine is a 10-minute walk from the Kameari house, known for blessings for strong legs and feet. Shibamata Taishakuten, the temple at the end of an old shopping street, is about 25 minutes by train from Kameari and expect crowds there in the first days of January. In Sapporo, Sapporo Suwa Shrine is a 10-minute walk from SAPPORO NORTH, and its grounds are always open.
What if someone gets ill over the holidays?
Call #7119 first: it is a nurse line that tells you whether you need an ambulance, and it works day and night through the holiday in both cities. Most local clinics close for New Year, so the answer is usually a holiday clinic or a hospital emergency department rather than the doctor round the corner.
In Sapporo the city's Night and Holiday Emergency Centre is open every night of the year, general medicine and children from 19:00 to 7:00. Near HEIWAJIMA, Toho University Omori Medical Center runs a 24-hour emergency department; call before you go. The Japan Visitor Hotline helps in English, Chinese and Korean around the clock. Bring enough of any regular medicine to cover the week: pharmacy counters are among the first things to close.
When should you book a New Year stay, and what should you tell us?
Two to three months ahead. Half of our bookings arrive 42 days or more before check-in (median over the twelve months to September 2026), and New Year is one of the dates that go first, together with cherry blossom. If you are planning a week or more, a 7-night stay gets 10% off and 28 nights up to 20% (long stays in Japan).
Check-in is self service from 16:00 with no last check-in time, so a flight that lands on New Year's Eve evening costs you nothing; the door code arrives in the booking thread. Check-out is 11:00, or 10:00 on the KAMEARI upper floor. If you land late on the 31st, the convenience store two minutes from each of our doors is open, so dinner is solved.
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