Skip to content
Tickets Japan

Ghibli Museum, Mitaka

Hand-painted ceilings, winding staircases and a rooftop guardian, explored at your own pace. Entry is by advance reservation only.

Book your visitGetting there
Hours
10:00–18:00
Entry times
Every hour, 10:00–16:00
Closed
Tuesdays and select dates
Tickets
Advance reservation only
Photography
Not allowed inside

What's inside

There is no set route and no map you have to follow. These are the rooms people come back for.

The rooftop and its guardian

A narrow spiral staircase climbs from the second floor to a grassy roof garden, where a five-metre Robot Soldier from Castle in the Sky keeps watch over Inokashira Park. The stairs are the only way up.

The Saturn Theater

An 80-seat cinema in the basement shows original short films you can only see here. Your entry ticket is a strip of real 35mm film. Hold it up to the light.

The central hall

A tall atrium under a glass ceiling, crossed by bridges and spiral stairs, with stained-glass windows full of characters. When the sun is out, the colours land on the stone floor.

The Straw Hat Café

A red-and-white striped café on the terrace, with a huge straw hat on its roof, handmade food and a hand-pump well outside.

The Cat Bus room

A giant plush Cat Bus you can climb into, on the second floor. For children in primary school or younger (12 and under), which is exactly why they remember it.

How Ghibli Museum booking works

Tickets are not sold at the museum. Each one names a date and an entry time. Travellers from abroad often struggle to secure tickets online due to the following issues:

Booking on your own

  • Queue for hours in the late evening or early morning waiting for ticket release
  • Lawson Ticket website struggles to handle web traffic leading to frequent outages
  • Desirable dates and times are often sold out within minutes
  • Japanese vendors often reject international cards

Booking with Tickets Japan

  • Send us your dates and entry times
  • Our team handles ticket purchase
  • Pay with your own card, in your language
  • Refund if none of your dates or times can be secured

Getting there

Illustration, not to scale.

Address

1-1-83 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo 181-0013

Open in Google Maps

There is no visitor parking. Come by public transport.

By train
Take the JR Chuo Line to Mitaka Station, about 20 minutes from Shinjuku.
On foot
From the south exit it is a 15-minute walk along the Tamagawa Josui waterway to the edge of Inokashira Park.
By community bus
A bright yellow community bus leaves the south exit every 15 minutes during opening hours. Adults ¥230; children aged 7 to 12 ¥120 in cash or ¥50 by IC card.

Good to know

  • No photos or video inside. The grounds and the rooftop are the exception, which is why every picture here is of the outside.
  • No eating or drinking inside, except at the café.
  • The roof garden is reached only by a narrow spiral staircase. There is no elevator to the roof, and it closes in bad weather.
  • Coin lockers are available for bags.
  • Wheelchairs can be borrowed, and there are accessible toilets on every floor.
  • The shop and café take major credit cards and Japanese e-money.

Plan your visit

Release dates, the best season, visiting with children and the way from the station, checked against the museum's official site.

All guides

Around the museum

Tickets Japan is an independent booking service. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the Ghibli Museum, Studio Ghibli or Museo d'Arte Ghibli. All trademarks belong to their owners.