除夜之鐘 (Joya-no-kane on Dec. 31st)
The New Year days are very busy for temples and shrines in Japan. On the 31st late evening, all the temples starts to ring their big bell called 梵鐘 for 108 times. Since one ring accompanies a minute to pray Buddha, each one takes 2 minutes at least, i.e. all 108 rings may finish in more than 3 hours. It is said that the last ring should be after 0 O’clock of January 1st.
Why 108 times? It comes from Buddhism known as 108 worldly desires (=煩悩) that any human has, and the temple’s bell has a magical power so that even a ordinary person’s (凡夫) 煩悩 can be removed when the bell is struck 108 times.
The origin is from China in Song dynasty (宋代). The 『勅修清規』describes how to ring the bell as 「慢十八声、緊十八声、三緊三慢共一百八声」. Do you know it?
Above: A famous 知恩院’s big 梵鐘
Above: a typical smaller temple’s 梵鐘
At certain temples, even citizens can have a chance to strike the bell. Should you be interested in to see other photos, you may throw in ”除夜の鐘 写真” in Yahoo.co.jp web site.
初詣 (Hatsu-mode):
Exactly at 0 O’clock 00 minutes, all temples and shrines in Japan open their entrance gate. Many-many people who has been waiting for the gate open rushes to the main hall (本殿), and start to pray God the Happy New Year. This activity is called初詣 (Hatsu-mode).
Above: The most popular shrine (明治神宮) in Tokyo, all the time No. 1 in Japan
The year 2009 ranking (number of prayers during the first 3 days) in Japan is as follows.
As you may find below, it is very interesting that the Japanese does not care so much whether it is a shrine (called 神宮 or 大社) or a temple (寺) for their Hatsu-mode.
No. 1. 明治神宮 3百19万人
No. 2. 成田山 新勝寺 2百98万人
No. 3. 川崎大師 平間寺 2百96万人
No. 4. 伏見稲荷大社 2百70万人
No. 5. 熱田神宮 2百35万人
No. 6. 住吉大社 2百35万人
No. 7. 浅草寺 2百16万人
All the prayers throw in some monetary offerings (賽銭) into the box (賽銭箱) for praying. Some rich people gives a million yen (百万円= 75,000人民元). Now, you can easily imagine how important the new year days are for all the shrines and temples in Japan.
Also, every shrines and temples sell lucky-charms called Omamori (御守) that brings fortune and expel evils who hold it. Hamaya (破魔矢) is another item for protecting your house from devils.
My family may sometimes go to popular temples or shrines; however, since those places are overcrowded, we often go to the shrine near our home. The following is pictures I took this year on January 1st at 0:59 mid night.
Note that 2 bows + 2 claps (with pray your wish) + one bow (二礼二拍手一礼) is the standard way, and the bell with a lope is to get attention of the God (we sometimes joke that the bell is to wake up the sleeping God.) | 
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