Originally Posted on 14 June 2023
Buying entrance tickets for Ghibli Museum exemplifies a very typical Japanese business operation.
I tried for two months to buy tickets to no avail. This month I finally read carefully. The website stated if I wanted tickets for July, I needed to buy tickets starting 10 June. Here came 10 June. Because it was an important task, I decided to use the English website so that I didn't mis-read any information.
The English website put me in a holding pen with 200+ people in front of me, waiting for buy tickets. I got annoyed. I went to the Japanese website. I was able to get in immediately. Therefore, if you could barely read any Japanese, use the Japanese website.
To buy tickets, I needed to create an online account with Lawson convenience store. Why Lawson had monopoly over Ghibli Museum entrance tickets, I didn't know, but fine! All companies wanted my personal information nowadays. I started creating an account.
- Name: type in kanji only. You can copy and paste a random Japanese name off of the internet. However, this will come back later.
- Phone number: if you don't have a Japanese cell phone number, you can randomly input ###-####-####. The website will not call you. However, you'll need this number when picking up tickets later. So remember the random numbers you inputted.
- Address: if you don't have a Japanese address, copy one from any random address you find online.
- Birthday: o...k...
All right. An account was created. I could buy tickets now. Oh, no. Ghibli Museum's Japanese website only accepted credit cards issued in Japan. Foreign credit cards were not allowed. So I could only reserve the tickets. I have 48 hours to pick them up. At Lawson convenience store only.
I went to the closest Lawson to me. The cashier told me no. It was a Lawson 100 shop; it did not have a Loppi machine that allowed me to pay for the tickets.
Fine. I went to a regular Lawson convenience store. The cashier pointed me to the Loppi machine. I inputted the phone number that I had used to create the account. Then Loppi printed out a piece of paper and told me I had 30 minutes to pay for the tickets.
ARE YOU SAYING I WAS NOT ABLE TO PAY AND PICK UP THE TICKETS AT THIS POINT? WHY THE F? I already created an online account, reserved tickets online, went to two Lawson stores, used the Loppi machine. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?!
I grabbed a few drinks and food in Lawson and went to the cashier to pay for everything. I finally saw the actual tickets that the cashier grabbed behind the counter. WHY COULDN'T I JUST COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE TO BUY TICKETS??? Then the cashier wanted me to sign the receipt, in KATAKANA! WHY THE F! I inputted my name in the online account in kanji. Now I need to sign in katakana? Why the F this language has three writing systems (hiragana, katakana, kanji)?
For the life of me, I couldn't remember how to write my name in katakana while standing in front of the cashier. So I decided to write my last name in katakana and my first name in hiragana. The cashier didn't care. He handed me the tickets without even looking at the receipt. He probably threw that away as soon as I walked out of the store.
All right. I finally got my tickets. Next step is to actually get into the museum. I probably need to sign my name in blood.
03 July 2023 Update: Finally arrived at Ghibli Museum. Three staff checked my tickets before entering. Why three? The first staff tore apart the two tickets stuck together and gave one to each me and Math Teacher. The second staff tore off the entry stubs. The third one handed me museum guides and another two tickets for a free short movie. Why one staff couldn't perform all three functions? That was a very good question. Why I needed more tickets when I was already inside the museum? That was another very good question.
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| Ghibli Museum 1 |
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| Ghibli Museum 2 |
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| Ghibli Museum 3 |
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| Snacks not at Ghibli Museum |
