Others end their work either on the 30th or early on the 31 st. In recent years, therefore, more people have been taking advantage of the long holiday to travel to the countryside for skiing and skating, or for relaxing at hot spring resorts. On New Year's Eve, most people spend their time with their families. Sons and daughters who have moved to the city return to their parents' homes in the country if this is at all possible. That way the entire family greets the New Year together.
Many families pass the evening watching special television programs.
Others visit shrines and temples where they pray by the light of bonfires. At the stroke of midnight on New year's Eve, the entire nation listens to the tolling of the Tsuri-Gane , the great bells or gongs at Japan's Buddhist temples. At Chion-in Temple in Kyoto, many visitors are drawn every New Year's Eve to watch the tolling of one of the largest bells in the world. It weighs 74 tons. According to Buddhism, man has 108 sins and that, by hearing the bells toll that number, he can be relieved of all of them.