How much money Meiji Shrine earned during the first few days of the year?

The Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu) in Harajuku, Tokyo, is one of the most popular shrines in Japan. Attracting over 10 million visitor each year, around 3 million of them head to the shrine for hatsumōde (new year's prayer), during the first few days of the year, usually from January 1 to 3. Within this period, you will see a long queue stretching in between the Torii (shrine's gate) and the main hall, and usually it takes several hours to reach the main hall. Also, since the offertory box (sansenbako) is too small to accommodate the amount of money thrown by the visitors, the shrine has to cover its ground with white cloth and surround it with fences as a substitute.

Today, we estimate the amount of money earned by Meiji Shrine during the first few days of the year.

How much money Meiji Shrine earned from January 1 to 3?

The exact amount of money earned by Meiji Shrine from January 1 to 3 is not disclosed, but we can roughly estimate the total amount of money earned within this period. Usually, around 3.18 million visitors come to the shrine within this period, and assume each person throws:

1 yen: 3.18 million yen 5 yen: 15.9 million yen 10 yen: 31.8 million yen 100 yen: 318 million yen

Of course, there are some people who threw 500 yen coins, or even larger amount of money, so it is possible for the shrine to earn more than 300 million yen within this period.

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