![]() For a plump price (between 60,000 and 100,000 yen per tour), you can enjoy a special New Year's menu while flying over Tokyo Bay and Mount Fuji as the first rays of the sunset the sky ablaze. The wealthiest can board a special flight organized by the Japanese airlines JAL and ANA from Narita airport. The bravest can also try to get an entrance ticket to the Tokyo Skytree on the same day (8,000 yen) but they will have to arrive early before the ticket offices open at….4 am! Exactly 892 for Tokyo Skytree for a cost of 7000 yen and 600 people (free access) for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Headquarters. Indeed, the town hall of Tokyo organizes each year a draw to allow access to these towers to a hundred people. The luckiest can admire the ascent of the star from the heights of the capital, namely: the Tokyo Skytree (634 meters high) or the seat of the Tokyo metropolitan government, commonly called the Tokyo town hall (the towers observation point are 202 meters high). Mount Fuji is of course the most coveted place but in winter, given the climatic conditions, its access is reserved for professional mountaineers. Where to admire the Hatsuhinode from the heights of Japan? The heights and the beaches are privileged places. Given the importance that many Japanese attach to this symbolic moment, one suspects that the best places are taken by storm. Where to admire the rising sun in Japan on January 1st? ![]() The belief is that if one makes a wish while watching the sunrise, the wish will be granted. ![]() Along with this custom, popular belief held that the god of the new year, Toshigamisama, arrived on the first day of the year with sunrise and welcome him on his arrival to ask him to bring abundant harvests and good health. And it was quite natural to greet the goddess of the sun as soon as she rose, to celebrate the new year. In the Heian period (794–1185), the nobles followed this custom, then in the Meiji period (1868-1912), the entire Japanese people celebrated Amaterasu on the first of the year. Historically, the emperor was required to address a prayer to Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess of Shintoism, every first day of the year. There is even talk of the first dream of the night of January 1: hatsuyume, or the first laugh, hatsuwarai! It is therefore hardly surprising that in the Land of the Rising Sun, the first sunrise is celebrated. Thus one makes his first visit of the year to the Shinto sanctuary or the Buddhist temple, hatsumode. In a country very attached to symbols, any first action of the new year takes on particular importance. On the very busy beaches, it was customary to light wood fires to warm up. To celebrate the arrival of the first sun, many places organize special events, temples and shrines offer soups or amazake (a drink made from fermented rice).
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