How to Buy Ghibli Museum Tickets | Booking from Outside Japan, Release Dates, Entry Times, and How It Differs from Ghibli Park

Overview

The Ghibli Museum, Mitaka (Ghibli Museum) in Mitaka (Tokyo) is a museum you book in advance, choosing the date and time you will enter.

Tickets are not sold at the museum. Book and buy your tickets online before you go.
To book from outside Japan, use the Lawson Ticket English site, which the museum's official website directs you to.
On the 10th of each month at 10:00 Japan time, tickets for entry from the 1st to the last day of the following month go on sale. They can sell out quickly.
Admission fees are set by age category and do not change with the date of your visit.
Once you have booked, you cannot get a refund. You also cannot change the date, the time, or the number of tickets.

Where to buy

How to buy from outside Japan

The museum's official website lists the following two ways to buy from outside Japan.

The Lawson Ticket English site: open it from the English ticket page of the museum's official website. This site sells admission tickets only.
A JTB bus tour: a day bus tour by Sunrise Tours, part of the JTB group. It includes entry to the Ghibli Museum and other sightseeing stops.

This article explains how to book on option 1, the Lawson Ticket English site.

Conditions

Admission fees and age categories

Admission fees are set by age category.

Age	Admission fee
19 and older	¥1,000 (tax included)
13–18	¥700 (tax included)
7–12	¥400 (tax included)
4–6	¥100 (tax included)

Children aged 3 and under enter free and do not need a ticket. The admission fee also covers watching a short film in the museum's small cinema. Each person can watch the film once.

Release date and time

Tickets go on sale on the 10th of each month at 10:00 Japan time. The tickets that go on sale then are tickets for entry from the 1st to the last day of the following month. For example, tickets for entry in February go on sale on January 10.
At the release time, many people access the booking site at once, and it can be hard to connect. Tickets can sell out quickly.

Entry times

When you book, you choose the date and the entry time. The number of entry times you can choose from depends on that day's opening hours.
Enter between your reserved entry time and 1 hour after it.
Once inside, you can stay until closing at 18:00. There is no set time by which you must leave.

Step by step

From booking to entry

These are the steps when you book on the Lawson Ticket English site.

A diagram showing the three steps from booking Ghibli Museum tickets on the Lawson Ticket English site to entering the museum. 1: On a smartphone, choose the date of your visit, pay by credit card, and book. 2: From the email you receive after booking, open the screen showing the 2D code and print it on paper. 3: On the day of your visit, the group representative hands the printed paper and their own passport to the staff at the ticket window at the museum entrance, and everyone in the group enters together.

On the Lawson Ticket English site, choose the month of your visit, then choose the date, the entry time, and the number of tickets. Enter the details of the person making the booking and pay by credit card to complete the booking.
When the booking is complete, you receive an email. Open "My Page" from the URL in the email, and print the screen showing the 2D code on paper. This 2D code is your admission ticket. Bring the printed paper to the museum.
On the day of your visit, the group representative hands the printed paper and the representative's passport to the staff at the ticket window at the museum entrance. Once the staff have checked the booking details and the representative's identity, everyone in the group can enter.

The staff check the representative's identity with the representative's passport. The representative must bring their own passport.
Everyone on the same booking enters together. Go to the ticket window at the entrance only after everyone has arrived.

Booking

Booking rules

One person can book up to 6 tickets.
The only payment method is credit card. For cards you can use in Japan, see Do You Need Cash in Japan? | Where Cards Work, ATMs That Accept Overseas Cards, and Currency Exchange.
Once you have booked, you cannot get a refund. You also cannot change the date of entry, the entry time, the age category, or the number of tickets. Book after your travel dates are fixed.

Opening hours

Opening hours and closed days

Opening hours are 10:00–18:00.
As a rule, the museum is closed every Tuesday. However, it is open on some Tuesdays. In addition, there are long closures for facility maintenance and a winter closure.
Before booking, check the opening days on the opening calendar on the museum's official website.

Museum rules

Please do not take photos or videos inside the museum.
Turn off your mobile phone inside the museum.
You can eat and drink only inside the café and on the deck in front of the café. Eating and drinking are not allowed anywhere else in the museum.
Once you go outside, you cannot enter again.
The exhibition room on basement level 1 (B1) has an exhibit with strong flashing lights. If you are sensitive to light, please be careful.
The coin lockers are free. Insert a ¥100 coin when you use one, and the coin comes back when you take out your belongings. If you have large items that do not fit in a coin locker, ask the staff.

Getting there

Take the JR Chuo Line to Mitaka Station. It takes about 20 minutes from Shinjuku Station to Mitaka Station.
From the South Exit of Mitaka Station, it is a 15-minute walk to the museum.
There is also a community bus from Mitaka Station to the museum. During the museum's opening hours, it runs every 15 minutes. For IC cards you can use on JR trains and buses, see Welcome Suica: How to Buy and Use It | A 28-Day IC Card for Visitors to Japan.
The museum has no parking for visitors. Go by train and bus.

Comparison

How it differs from Ghibli Park

Ghibli Park is in Aichi Prefecture and is a separate facility from the Ghibli Museum. The Ghibli Museum, Mitaka is in Mitaka (Tokyo), so they are in different places.
A Ghibli Park ticket does not let you into the Ghibli Museum. A Ghibli Museum ticket does not let you into Ghibli Park either.
Buy Ghibli Park tickets separately from Ghibli Museum tickets, through the ways listed on Ghibli Park's official website.

Good to know

Admission fees, opening days, entry times, and how to buy tickets may change. Check the museum's official website before you book.
For getting connected so you can read your booking emails while traveling, see Getting Online in Japan | eSIM vs SIM Card vs Pocket Wi-Fi, What to Check First, and Airport Pickup.

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