On the first three days of the year, police estimate that 89m people or three in four of the population will visit a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple to make the all important first prayer of the new year. The most popular spot is always Tokyo's Meiji shrine, which expects to attract more than 3m visitors from 1-3 January. It is great sight for tourists - rows and rows of open air stalls selling traditional trinkets and one of the very few times in the year when young women dress up in kimonos. It is also good business for the priests, who always do a roaring trade in lucky charms and fortune telling. Schoolchildren will pay to write down their wishes for exam success, drivers will buy road safety amulets and company owners will donate a small fortune to win favour from Ebisu, the god of business.
Nothing is left to chance in the home either.
In a sign of globalisation, however, several plush department stores have started selling o-seichi sets of French cuisine and champagne. Naturally, this is also considered the best time of the year to have a flutter, even in a nation where gambling is officially frowned upon. People queue for hours to buy tickets from reportedly lucky outlets for the new year lottery, which offers a top prize of about 3m. The most extravagant of these lucky dips costs more than 1m for a carrier bag full of bargain diamonds and other goodies. Even the post office gets in on the act.