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New Year's Day

New Year’s Day 2024, 2025 and 2026

New Year’s Day in Japan has been officially celebrated according to the Gregorian Calendar since 1873. This change was a part of the modernisation and Westernisation movement of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries in Japan.

YearDateDayHoliday
20241 JanMonNew Year's Day
20251 JanWedNew Year's Day
20261 JanThuNew Year's Day
Please scroll down to end of page for previous years' dates.

But despite the date change, Japanese continued to keep older traditions in celebrating New Year’s Day on 1 January. These include the annual “white glove” cleaning of the family home, giving small sums of money in an envelope to kids, and visiting the first shrine of the year on anywhere from the first to the third of January.

Getting up early to observe the first sunrise of the year is another tradition, but only the truly dedicated get up that early! Special New Year’s foods in Japan include toshikoshi soba soup on New Year’s Eve and Ozouni soup on New Year’s Day. Osechi snacks, put in a black bento box, are supposed to bring good luck. Each food item inside represents something about life and about the year ahead.

Previous Years

YearDateDayHoliday
20231 JanSunNew Year's Day
2 JanMonNew Year Holiday
20221 JanSatNew Year's Day
20211 JanFriNew Year's Day
20201 JanWedNew Year's Day
20191 JanTueNew Year's Day
20181 JanMonNew Year's Day
20171 JanSunNew Year's Day
2 JanMonNew Year Holiday