If the plan for 31 December is “stand in the scramble at midnight,” drop it. Shibuya-ku cancelled the street countdown years ago. As of 2025/26 that was the sixth year with no organised show. 2026/27 has no new party announcement. Hachiko is usually wrapped. Traffic control typically starts around 20:00 on the scramble–Miyamasuzaka side. Street drinking is banned 18:00 to 05:00 every day, harder that night. There is no ball. There is no civic stage. Center-gai after 18:00 is a fine.
The shrine clock for 2026–27
Meiji Jingu’s own hatsumode page is the clock. 31 December: open 06:40, then overnight with no close. 1 January: close 18:30. 2 and 3 January: 06:40 to 18:00. 4 January: 06:40 to 17:30. From 5 January: 06:40 to 16:20. Times can move. Phone 03-3379-5511. Precinct entry is free. Peak queues: 22:00 on the 31st through 03:00 on the 1st, and after 10:00 on the first three days. The shrine asks people to spread visits. Three gates. Harajuku south is JR Harajuku and Metro Meiji-jingumae, about one minute, and the wall after 22:00. Yoyogi north is JR Yoyogi, Toei Oedo Yoyogi, Metro Kita-sando, about five minutes. Sangubashi west is Odakyu Sangubashi, about five minutes. If Harajuku is a wall, use the other two.
Inner garden (Gyoen, Kiyomasa well) is extra and uses a different door: east gate on 1–3 January, north gate from the 4th. Gyoen hours: 1 Jan 08:00–16:30, 2–3 Jan 08:30–16:00, from 4 Jan 09:00–16:00. Ofuda desks move to the parking in front of Meiji Jingu Kaikan on the Harajuku and Yoyogi side, and to the west-approach lawn on the Sangubashi side. Stalls (Fureai plaza) from 31 December. Forest Terrace including Café Mori no Terrace from 1 January. No cars in the precinct on the first three days. Reiwa 8 is the year of the horse. Eto bells and ema ¥1,000 each, limited.
A shorter shrine if Jingu is enough for one night
Konno Hachimangu sits on Miyamasuzaka, the ujigami of Shibuya and Aoyama. Hatsumode there is the local version: shorter, still a shrine, not a crossing. SHIBUYA SKY sometimes sells a sunrise ticket with the shrine on 1 January. That is a timed deck, booked only if Scramble Square posts 2027 sunrise. Clubs in Maruyamacho run their own doors. Indoor, paid, not the scramble.
Personal kigan at Kaguraden starts at ¥10,000 on 1–3 January and ¥5,000 after the 4th. First kigan of the year from 01:00 on the 1st. The petitioner may strike the taiko on the first three days except 04:00–09:00 on the 1st, when rites close it. Museum hours stretch on 1 January (10:00–18:30, open even if that weekday is Thursday). Last entry 30 minutes before close. Old ofuda go to the temporary desks, not into a convenience-store bin. Gate table and kigan hours live on the event page. The station warning sits on Shibuya New Year. Shrine: meijijingu.or.jp/hatsumoude.
Practical Details
- Overnight: 31 December 2026 into 1 January 2027, no close
- 1 Jan close: 18:30. 2–3 Jan: 18:00. Then earlier
- Gates: Harajuku south, Yoyogi north, Sangubashi west
- Peak: 22:00–03:00, and after 10:00 on the first three days
- Scramble: no countdown. Drinking ban 18:00–05:00
- Shrine: meijijingu.or.jp/hatsumoude
