New Year's Eve in Tokyo

Japan shifted from the Chinese lunar new year to the western calendarback in 1873. It is rather a low key family event. One of the big family events was watching the Kohaku Uta Gassen on the national broadcaster, NHK. The show is in it's 69th year and its popularity as declined a bit. Basical it is variety competition where two teams of some of the years popular groups and singers compete.
Another tradition is to eat Toshikoshi soba. This custom is a symbolic cutting of the years hardships as soba noodles are easy to cut. They are also quite tasty.
The main event however is the first visit of the year to a shrine or temple. Hie Shrine is near to my hotel and while it is a major shrine, it's not the biggest. A lot of people visit just after midnight to pray, buy talismans, eat snacks and drin amazake, a low nutrictious alcohol drink made from fermented rice and served warm.