How to Buy Tickets Online for Ghibli Museum in Tokyo?

Ghibli museum tickets cannot be bought at the gate. You need to buy in advance and early enough in order to get the tickets cheaply and at their original prices. An original ticket at official outlets goes for about 1000yen or $9. However, if you delay getting your ticket, you can still buy them from resellers but at almost twice the original price. Here are six ways to get a Studio Ghibli Museum ticket.

Lawson’s website in English and Japanese

This is the official site to buying Ghibli tickets. The English website is for overseas visitors while the Japanese website is for the locals. The Lawson websites sell the tickets on sale on the 10th of every month from 10 am Japanese time. This tickets, however, sell out quite fast and so you need to be on your toes at 10 am to get yours.

Make sure you have your credit card, where you intend to stay in Japan, your phone number, email address, and a four character password. Tickets never past noon. For a successful purchase, you will get a confirmation email. Make sure you print the ticket.

Lawson’s Loppi Machines in Japan

Loppi machines only work for the locals, or if you are buying from abroad, you can send a local friend or family member to do the purchasing for you. You can spot a Lawson shop almost everywhere in Japan.

The Natural Lawson (have a maroon sign) and Lawson 100 (have green signs) stores are special stores. The Lawson stores that sell the tickets have blue signs. Tickets for a particular month are usually available at the Lawson stores a month before. You do not need to buy these tickets on the tenth, but they too run out fast.

Buying through Voyagin

Voyagin offers three ticket options. The pre-order, last minute and guarantee tickets. For the pre-order tickets, you need to order them before the pre-order period is over. After the order is received, you will receive a form for you to fill in some confirmation details.

Last minute tickets are ordered after the pre-order period is over. You will need to include at least three alternative dates and time for your visit to secure your tickets. The guarantee tickets allow for special attention to your booking and should be done during the pre-order period. Studio Ghibli tickets include a delivery fee to the hotel you book in Japan.

Use Viator, GetYourGide or JAPANiCAN

This collection of websites is the sure way of getting sold out tickets. The prices are however as high as 13,000yen per person. What makes them that high is the fact that they include the visit to Ghibli Museum, bus transportation plus an English tour guide, a side tour to Edo Tokyo Open Air Museum and lunch buffet at Hotel Gajoen in Tokyo. The tour guide does not go with you to the Ghibli Museum so you can explore that part on your own.

JTB travel agency

Although JTB has offices in over 35 countries worldwide, not all of their offices sell Studio Ghibli Museum tickets. Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA, UK, Denmark, South Korea, Germany, France, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Norway, Australia, and Sweden are the lucky ones.

To get these tickets, you need to visit your country’s JTB website. Only 200 tickets are released daily across the offices and are available on the 1st of every month, three months in advance of your visiting date. JTB keeps updating the countries’ list, and so you can search on the JTB website of your country to see if they have started selling them there yet.

Other methods to avoid last minute tickets

If you do not want to risk getting a last minute ticket and pay over twice as much you can use a middle person to purchase the ticket for you within the pre-order periods or in Lawson stores in Japan. A viable middle person may include a neighbor or friend who you plan to visit with or to star at their place if you are not planning on staying in a hotel. They will not include an additional fee at all since most will do it out of the goodwill and the advantage of a relationship.

However, if you do not know anyone in Japan who can do this favor for you, no need to worry, some hotels offer a hotel concierge. This means you can use the hotel where you have made a reservation to buy the ticket for you. They, however, include a 5 or 10% fee but this does not compare to having to pay twice as much for the same ticket. These tickets are bought from Lawson Loppi store, and you receive them on admission.

Getting a pass at the Ghibli Museum needs one to be attentive and have all the information on where to get their pass. Opening hours at the museum vary with groups. The opening hours are at 10 am, noon, 2 pm, and 4 pm. Make sure you are there on time for a full experience. You can gift a friend buying them a ticket the next time you plan on visiting.