Tokyo · Mitaka and Kichijoji

Ghibli Museum

The Ghibli Museum in Mitaka is the museum of Studio Ghibli, and it sits inside the western part of Inokashira Park. It opened on 1 October 2001 and marked 25 years on 1 October 2026. It is not a museum of displays behind glass but a building made for wandering: narrow staircases, indoor bridges, rooms that recreate an animator's workroom, and a permanent exhibition on how an animated film is made.

On the second floor stands a large catbus that children up to primary school age can climb on, and in the rooftop garden stands a robot soldier from Castle in the Sky (Laputa). The small Saturn theater, with 80 seats, screens an original Ghibli short film that is not shown anywhere else, and it changes every few weeks. Until May 2027 (estimated date), the temporary exhibition room shows an exhibition on the workroom of illustrator Yuriko Yamawaki.

There is also a cafe, Straw Hat (麦わらぼうし), which opens at 10:30 (the terrace at 11:00), and a gift shop called Mamma Aiuto, named after the sky pirates in Porco Rosso, which also sells items sold only at the museum.

Good to know

Photography and filming are forbidden inside the museum. Outside, including the roof and the robot, they are allowed.
A yellow community bus in Ghibli design leaves Mitaka Station every quarter of an hour during opening hours: 230 yen for an adult in cash or by Suica, 120 yen for a child in cash and 50 yen by IC card. On the way back you can walk through Inokashira Park to Kichijoji.
Tickets bought from resellers or on the resale market are not honored at the entrance. Buy only on the official Lawson Ticket site or through JTB.
The permanent exhibition has a display with strong flashing light. If you are sensitive to flashing light, it is good to know in advance.

Photo: Fotointheworld / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Entry: Adults and university students 1,000 yen, high school and junior high 700 yen, primary school 400 yen, age 4 to kindergarten 100 yen, under 4 free. From the November 2026 tickets on, a system fee of 110 yen per ticket was added.
Hours: 10:00 to 18:00. Closed every Tuesday, and during maintenance and winter periods published in the opening calendar on the website.
Time needed: 2.5 hours
Best time: The 10:00 entry slot, before the museum fills up. There is no fixed exit time, and you can stay until closing.
Station: Mitaka, JR Chuo Line, South Exit, 15 min walk
Booking: Only in advance, through the Lawson Ticket site (ローチケ), which has an English version for buyers from abroad. Tickets for the following month go on sale on the 10th of each month at 10:00 Japan time. You choose a day and one entry time out of seven (10:00 to 16:00, on every full hour), and you enter up to an hour after the time you chose. The museum itself does not sell tickets. From the November 2026 tickets on, the ticket is a QR code on your phone, or a paper ticket you print at a Loppi machine in a Lawson store. Another option from abroad: a Sunrise Tours (JTB) bus tour that includes the museum.

Checked October 2026

Open in Maps Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4 Source 5 Source 6 Source 7 Source 8 Source 9 Tickets on Klook

What is nearby

Approximate walking minutes from the entrance of Ghibli Museum.

Here
Ghibli Museum
1 min
Kaze-no-Sampomichi Street
A green walking path along the Tamagawa Josui canal, from the South Exit of Mitaka Station toward Inokashira Park and the Ghibli Museum. The path is straight and smooth, and from the station to the museum it is about a quarter of an hour on foot.
Public path, always open.Maps Source
~14 min
Iseya Koen-ten Food
A yakitori restaurant that opened in 1960 at the entrance to Inokashira Park and was rebuilt in 2013. A single skewer 100 yen, four mixed skewers 400 yen, and homemade shumai 390 yen. 350 seats on three floors.
12:00 to 22:00 (last order 21:00). Closed on Mondays.Maps Source
~14 min
SUNDAY VEGAN Cafe
A vegan bakery near Inokashira Park that opened as a shop in 2023: mainly donuts, plus pastries and pantry goods, all from plant ingredients. Vegan, not kosher.
8:00 to 17:00, irregular closing days.Maps Source
~20 min
Kichijoji Satou (Genso Maru Menchi Katsu) Food
A butcher shop from 1974 that sells round menchi-katsu of Japanese beef and onion, fried on the spot. 350 yen each, and from 5 pieces 330 yen each. Cash only.
¥350 · ≈ $210:00 to 19:30, until sold out. The menchi-katsu is sold from 10:30. Closed only at the start of the year.Maps Source
~20 min
Ozasa Shopping
A tiny Japanese sweets shop at the same address as Satou. It sells monaka, a rice wafer filled with bean paste, in red and white versions, and yokan, a bean jelly sold only at the shop itself.
Currently 10:00 to 18:30 (usually until 19:30). Closed on Tuesdays. Open on 3.11.2026 and closed on 4.11.2026.Maps Source

More in Mitaka and Kichijoji

Appears in: Ghibli Museum, Kichijoji and Shimokitazawa: the calm west side

Full page for Ghibli Museum