I also recommend this temple for the New Year celebration. The monks perform a fascinating service with chanting and drums, inside the temple, which you can freely attend. Almost all the Japanese people visiting will simply pay their respects at the shrine and leave though, so there was plenty of space inside when I last went.

The crowd control at Narita temple is also the best I have ever seen. The police break the crowds up into sections and move them systematically, so things move along quite quickly, and there was no pushing or getting squashed.