Ghibli Museum — Attraction in Tokyo

The Ghibli Museum is simply the most wonderful, magical place. I've visited twice now and the sense of wonder I feel walking around this place never ends! I simply love it 💖💖💖 Photography is prohibited inside the building, which is a good thing because it allows you to be completely in the moment and experience the place with no distractions, however you can take photos outside the building and on the roof! There are various parts of this museum to explore including two permanent exhibitions, one temporary exhibition, a children's play area with a giant Cat Bus, a rooftop garden featuring the famous Laputa Robot and some other wonderful things, a cinema, two shops, a cafe, and lots of little walkways, miniature doors, spiral staircase each with their own little displays, wall art, hidden things to find. It's truly magical! ✨💖👧🏼👧🏻🌸🌳🦋 The cinema shows, on rotation throughout the year, the Ghibli Short films which can only be viewed at either Ghibli Museum or Ghibli Park in Nagoya. These films cannot be viewed anywhere else! I've seen three of them and each one is incredible, beautiful and simply wonderful! There are two shops, one sells a massive range of Ghibli Merchandise, some of it exclusive to the Ghibli Museum... the range is amazing and you'll definitely leave with lots of items to take home! The other shop sells books, including every Ghibli related book available including some I believe you can only get at the Museum, it also sells other books too each one beautiful! There are coin lockers available in the courtyard, they cost ¥100 which is refunded when you unlock and collect your items. There are toilets and baby changing facilities on each floor, and disabled access to all areas via an elevator, except for the roof which is only accessible through a spiral staircase. The staff here are simply wonderful, each one is so friendly, helpful and kind. I was wearing my Ghibli Hat, a hat I've decorated with various Ghibli pins... So many staff members complimented me on it which was lovely and made me feel that the staff really care. There is an on-site Cafe called Straw Hat Cafe, it serves a number of delicious menu items, I'd highly recommend the Blue Sky Ice Cream Soda! It can get a little busy around 12 and 1pm, so perhaps having a slightly early or slightly late lunch is a good idea as you'll have to wait less and it'll be easier to get a table. Tickets must be bought in advance! They sell out fast so make sure you allow yourself a few date options in case your first choice is sold out. If possible, I'd recommend booking the 10am time slot for entry, that way you have all day to wander around and explore the museum, and also it is quieter first thing and gets busier as the day goes on. All in all, this place is a must for any Ghibli fans visiting Japan! You will not be disappointed - it's simply wonderful...

tl;dr - it's not worth going to if you're not an ultra super fan, who also doesn't mind just seeing a bunch of sketches and being in crowded small spaces. There's no English displays, only Japanese. Don't bother paying extra for it. It's not foreigner friendly at all despite its popularity. All in all not a memorable experience. They could do much better for something as unique and globally loved as Ghibli.

Long review:

Looking at many of the 1 star reviews here you can see most people are angry at not being able to get tickets. Tbh you're not missing out on anything and please please don't pay extortionate prices for this. It's 1,000 yen for a reason, it's just a small and relatively empty museum and it's not worth even that much imo.

There's nothing truly unique in there that you can't find elsewhere (like any museum about animation) or the internet. There's no appeal or creativity to anything in the museum beyond the short movie that is apparently exclusive to it (also no English subs at any of the screenings). It's also unfortunate there's not much content about some of the movies that are well known and loved around the world like Howl's, Spirited away, Mononoke, and Kiki's delivery.

The exhibits are ONLY IN JAPANESE. If you can't read it, you miss out on all the information displays. I didn't expect that given how popular this museum seems to be with foreigners. It would be a much better experience if they went the extra mile to add English displays.

NOTE: after going, I read on Reddit that you can ask for the English translation of the exhibitions in the info desk (I guess) and then you have to return it when done. This info was not available anywhere in the museum itself so I have no way to verify if it true. I think most people don't know about it as it's not something that the museum makes clear and I guess there are only a few of those translations available.

The cafe is a generic one with some common food and drink options, it's not themed and nothing really special about it. I was really expecting more considering the long lines, like coffee art, Ghibli shaped baked goods and such (I'd even pay more for that lol). But nope none of that. Note that in the earlier hours the line can take as long as 20-30 mins. If you go later in the day there may not be any line.

The gift shop was the most crowded, maybe most people just come there for that? but the merchandise available is also generic and I'm sure most of it can be found elsewhere. The prices are in the medium to expensive range.

Extra useful info:

There are coin lockers that require a 100 yen coin deposit.

You can bring your own food, or stop at the nearby Lawson before going into the museum, and eat in the cafe area. It's allowed according to the pamphlet. But you cant re-enter the museum once you leave so plan...

A one of a kind place worth visiting for anyone with a love of the art of animation. Here are some details you might find helpful: -The animated films tend to run three times each hour. You're given a 35mm film strip upon redeeming your ticket and the filmstrip is stamped as your admission to the film. You can only watch it once per visit, but you can keep the filmstrip as a souvenir. The films are presented without foreign language subtitles, but every other hour there is a special screening with Japanese closed captions. -There are two gift shops on the upper floor. One has a large variety of merchandise, including stuffed toys, blu-rays and DVDs, music CDs, t-shirts, model kits, magnets...basically everything a Ghibli fan could ever want. The other, smaller shop is a bookstore, with lots of art books from Ghibli films and pre-Ghibli TV series as well as picture books that Miyazaki seems to be fond of. The special souvenir here is a two-book set with interviews and photos of the museum, and they offer a special English language version for tourists. It even comes with a very cool illustrated poster of a cross-section of the museum. -While hardly any of the exhibits have anything printed in English, the brochure you're given upon entry has text in a number of languages including English. The staff is surprisingly knowledgable in English as well and were very good about answering questions and helping out. -The children's catbus play area has a short line behind velvet ropes and a 10 minute wait time between play sessions. Photos unfortunately aren't allowed in this area or anywhere else indoors, but there are some great photo op spots outside and on the roof. -The museum is small in more ways than one--some of the indoor areas were designed specifically for children and adults will find themselves having to crouch to get through some of the narrow passages. There are some very tight and narrow spiral staircases to get between floors, so you might want to take the old-fashioned cage elevator instead. We spent a few hours at the museum and really took our time seeing everything, including the limited time exhibit on "How Do You Live?" and we felt we were very thorough. Those who speed through it can easily see everything they want to in an hour or two. The area with the longest line (besides the gift shop) was easily the "studio" part where you walk through multiple rooms with tons of drawings and animation cels hanging on the walls. It's one of the highlights though, so it's definitely worth waiting in line for! -If you know anything about this place, it's that tickets are almost impossible to get online. We ended up having a third party purchase tickets for us on Fiverr, make sure you read the reviews to find a reliable source if you plan on going...