When will 2007 New Year peak period be?

Hello everyone.

Coming to Japan again this Dec/Jan. Can anyone tell me when the peak period is likely to be around New Year's Day please?

NY Eve is on a Monday, and NY Day is Tuesday. I had the impression that a lot of Japanese would try to take the days leading up to NY Day as a holiday (and so it was more difficult and expensive to get ryokan reservations; museums were closed; trains were busier, etc).

My question is: does anyone have any idea when the build up to New Year will start (i.e. which days might I expect a lot of people to be on holiday and find it hard to get bookings in hotels)?

Thanks.

"Outbound traffic" (people leaving Tokyo and other large cities) will peak on December 29th.

In the opposite direction, I expect the traffic to be more distributed over January 2-6.

..for your answer. If I may ask a further question: should I expect hotels to be busy and museums and gardens to be closed between the 25th and the 28th/29th (by which time I would expect that)?

Thanks very much

should I expect hotels to be busy

Only in popular tourist destinations. The hotels in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka should have ample of vacancies.

and museums and gardens to be closed between the 25th and the 28th/29th (by which time I would expect that)?

Most tourist attractions do not close before December 29. This page gives you an idea:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2276.html