Is the Ghibli Museum worth it?
You don’t need to have been to Japan to know how insane it is to get a booking at the Ghibli Museum.
And my first hand disappointment during my first trip to Japan in 2017 made me determined not to fail twice.
But thanks to a little extra planning, research and nimble fingers, I managed to secure a ticket the second time around.
But is the Ghibli Museum worth the stress of staying up till 3am to get a ticket? Read on to find out.
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If you’re planning on going to either the Ghibli Museum or Ghibli Park whilst you’re in Japan, be forewarned. The booking process isn’t something you dip your toes into. Be prepared for no sleep, snacks and a strong wifi connection.
The booking process
Although a variety of booking apps like Klook state you can buy Ghibli Museum tickets on their site, they were either unavailable or sold out due to the schedule of ticket releases.
Because of this, my only choice was buying tickets directly through the Museum’s website. Tickets get released on the 10th of each month at 10:00AM Japan time which is important to bear in mind. Some people do a trial run to get used to the booking interface, as you can only access this when booking.
I jumped straight into the deep end and decided to one shot my chance at tickets, since I didn’t want to be staying up till 3am on more than one occasion.
At 3am BST sharp, I was added to a queue that lasted a painstakingly 40 minutes. During this time, all the TikToks I’d seen of people saying how impossible it was to get tickets flashed into my mind. I thought of leaving the queue at some points, sure that all the tickets would be sold out. But lo and behold, when it was my turn on the site they still had tickets left!
Tickets are relatively cheap, amounting to 1,000 yen for adults over 19. Which leads me to the next point of call.
Is the Ghibli Museum worth it?
The short answer is yes.
The long answer is slightly more complicated.
There are no pictures allowed in the Ghibli Museum, alluding to an air of exclusivity. Because of this, I had NO IDEA what to expect, except that I was about to enter a place made of brick, mortar, and my childhood dreams.
The Ghibli Museum consisted of three rooms, all of which the purpose was to highlight how the films came to be, the ideation, and the mechanisms behind the animation.
There was also a cinema playing an exclusive short film which was exciting, and the ticket stubs we received were all clippings from different Ghibli films. It was really fun guessing which Ghibli film each ticket stub still frame was from.
There was a lot to look at, and seeing the concepts of the films in their illustrated ideation phase was very cool. But the rooms were incredibly crowded, and a lot of time was spent waiting for the people in front of you to move so you could shuffle a few feet.
I was also slightly disappointed with the lack of interactive elements at the museum.
The gift shop was so fun, but I expected to see more of a variety of merchandise from the Ghibli films.
So all in all, do I regret going? Not a single bit. Was the Ghibli Museum worth it? Absolutely, especially as the tickets were cheap. It was also quite easy to navigate too from Tokyo, with clearly signposted buses to get to the Museum.
However, my love for Ghibli paired with the exclusivity and mystery behind the museum led me to pedestalize it harder than I probably realised. So if you do end up going, bear in mind that the Museum is small and tickets are cheap for a reason!
Interested in booking? You can either go through the Museum’s website directly, or third party platforms like Get Your Guide, which aim to take out the added stress & all nighters (when tickets are in stock, that is).
