Hatsumoude - make wishes for the New Year

Though most Japanese people have no religion, people like to celebrate events and want to rely on god at each event in the year(such as Christmas).

Hatumoude means visiting a temple or a shrine for the first time in the year, especially in January for making wishes for the New Year.

While temple is for Buddhists and "shrine" is for believers of shinto, it doesn't matter to most Japanese people.

Look at that crowd !

The picture of "sensouji(one of the famous temple)" in Tokyo

They go to a temple or a shrine and throw coins in a special box in front of the main hall and pray. 

Before or after they do this, they sometimes buy omikuji(fortune paper) and omamori(good-luck charm.) 

The examples of "good-luck charm."

I rarely go to "hasumoude," but this year I visited a temple to make a wish today, because this year is my fresh start. 

Like me, some of us rely on this tradition, when we feel like going there. 

The images of "omikuji."

By the way, I got my fortune and it said "Now is the worst." 
But it also has another meaning: that things will be better in the near future.