Buy Ghibli Museum tickets before visiting Japan?
Replies: 11 - Last Post: Sep 12, 2012 1:16 AM Last Post By: nirakk
jump to
Buy Ghibli Museum tickets before visiting Japan?
Probably a question asked ad nauseum, before someone throws sticks at me whining about why am I so damn lazy about not using the bloody search function I will give my explanation:I already booked my ticket Los Angeles-Tokyo in early November but discovered my plane arriving at my connection flight in LAX only has 3 hours layover to Tokyo. I did not notice this before because I forgot LA uses pacific time and not central. Not much of an issue since there should be good weather and I pass through US immigration without many hassles.
My problem is that I really, really, really want to go to the Ghibli museum when I visit Tokyo and I live in a country where there aren't any licensed travel agents that can sell me the museum ticket. There is a travel agency in Torrance that can sell me the ticket for 19 USD which is just a 20 minute taxi ride from LAX (I don't know how long will the bus on the green route take). I probably wouldn't have minded forking 70 dollars on taxis or mix taxi/bus to save cash because I have visited Los Angeles at least 5 times and know they city pretty well. However with just a 3 hour layover, I'm worried it won't be just a case of just showing up at the place, show passport, show the $$$ and get out of there in 10 minutes.
My issue is simply I'm scared to death to miss my flight and screw everything up for a museum ticket that might be more easily bought in Japan anyways. I've heard the museum sometimes has tickets totally sold out sometimes weeks in advance, I would probably be visiting it on a Wednesday on a non holiday in November. They say you can buy them at Lawson store vending machines, but my Japanese surely isn't good enough to fimble with the machine and I don't know if hotels usually help you reserve the ticket the day before on the phone.
Any ideas?
1
sailornyanko wrote:
I would probably be visiting it on a Wednesday on a non holiday in November.
I would probably be visiting it on a Wednesday on a non holiday in November.
Ghibli Tickets:-
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3041.html#jump_hours
What date do you arrive in Japan?
What date do you plan on going to Ghibli Museum?
I assume you live in Mexico? Have you asked if a JTB office in the USA can mail the voucher to you? I know some Malaysians have purchased from the Hong Kong JTB.
Here's a list of all the JTBs that can sell the Ghibli Tickets
http://www.jtbgmt.com/eng/ghibli/TicketSystem.html#Purchase
They say you can buy them at Lawson store vending machines, but my Japanese surely isn't good enough to fimble with the machine
Lawson instructions for buying:-
http://www.lawson.co.jp/ghibli/museum/ticket/english.html
Depending on your dates, even if you come to Japan, try and use Lawson and it is not available you may be able to join a guided tour. You could also book this one online now if you wished. Obviously it is more expensive than just going by yourself, but at least it would ensure you got a ticket:-
http://www.japanican.com/tours/tourdetail.aspx?tc=GMT01TYOOF600&aff=EXJ
2
Depending on your number days in Tokyo, you may be able to just buy them at a Lawson after you arrive. Looking at the vacancy situation now for the rest of Sept., I see free slots every day except for weekends and 9/10 and 9/17. So if you were to arrive today you can buy a ticket for Wed. (they are closed on Tue.)3
You imply you only have 3 hours in 'Tokyo'. It would take you the best part of 2 hours to get from Narita to Kichijoji/Mitaka anyway. If I've got this wrong and you have plenty of time don't miss out on nearby Inokashira-koen (park) and Kichijoji too.4
I have at least 2 full days in Tokyo, it's the connection in Los Angeles that is a problem. No travel agency in Mexico does this tour, I would be in Tokyo free to visit the museum November 6th and November 7th. If ticket availability is still easy to get ans someone can help me fiddle with the Lawson machine in Japan then I'd indeed rather buy the tickets while I'm there instead of risk losing my flight. Thanks for the suggestions.5
I would be in Tokyo free to visit the museum November 6th and November 7th.
Ghibli is usually closed on a Tuesday (November 6th).
Unfortunately, Ghibli has a shutdown during that time for periodic maintenance. It will close from Nov 6th until Nov 16th. Unless you come back to Tokyo later than that then I would guess you will be out of luck!
http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/007569.html
If ticket availability is still easy to get ans someone can help me fiddle with the Lawson machine in Japan then I'd indeed rather buy the tickets while I'm there instead of risk losing my flight. Thanks for the suggestions.
Did you read my post??? Assuming you will be in Tokyo on a later date, just click on the Lawson English Guide link and print it out and take it with you.
7
On what website can you check if the tickets are sold out?
You can see them from the Japanese Ghibli Museum site via the Lawson l-tike site.
http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/
Not sure if this link will work for you but you should be able to find it from here:-
http://l-tike.com/ghibli/
9
Those links won't help the #6 as they are in Japanese.
I don't know if they can or can't read Japanese. I can't either but it is pretty obvious what to do from the links.
Anyways:-
Click the yellow box on the first page.
Scroll down and you can see the date range for the current month and the next month. Click the orange box next to whichever month you are looking for.
Scroll down and you can see the calendar showing which slots are available on which day.
As is the convention with almost all ticketing systems in Japan:-
X means sold out
△ triangle means limited numbers left (ie almost sold out)
O means tickets available
