Things I didn't try early on: New Year sunrise viewing

'Hatsuhinode' is the Japanese for viewing the first sunrise of the year. I was in Japan many years before I even heard about it. And here even longer before I tried it. It is now one of my favorite New Year traditions in Japan.

It is believed that watching the first sunrise will bring good luck for the year ahead. There are no rules and nothing in particular you have to do to partake in this beautiful New Year tradition. However, if you want to watch the first sunrise from, say, an observation tower that opens especially for the occasion, you do often need to apply and book in advance.  

There are some locations that are famous for watching the first sunrise and you can expect to meet dozens if not hundreds of people at such a location. Often, those places will have a view of Mt Fuji too, as the first view of Mt Fuji in the New Year is a thing too! You can of course just watch it from your own home too. Do you get up to watch the first sunrise of the year?