In Tokyo, four sights need a ticket for a fixed date: teamLab, Shibuya Sky, the Ghibli Museum and, only in January, May and September, sumo. The Ghibli Museum releases next month’s tickets on the 10th at 10:00 Japan time, Shibuya Sky sells 14 days ahead, and teamLab Planets starts at ¥3,800 (about €21). The number one trap: the Ghibli Museum bans resale, and there are only two official ways to buy.
The essentials in numbers (read on 6 October 2026, sources in the text):
- teamLab Planets: from ¥3,800 (about €21), fixed entry time, day-dependent prices; Borderless ¥3,400.
- Shibuya Sky: ¥2,700 until 14:59, ¥3,400 after; sold only 14 days ahead.
- Ghibli Museum: ¥1,000; on sale on the 10th of the month at 10:00 Japan time for the next month.
- Sumo: in Tokyo only January, May, September; sale for January 2027 from 5 December 2026.
- Free: city hall observation decks, Imperial Palace East Gardens, Meiji Jingu, Senso-ji.
The tickets at a glance: price, sale date, where to buy
teamLab (two venues), Shibuya Sky and the Ghibli Museum cannot be done on a whim in Tokyo, and sumo takes place only three times a year. Adult prices, read on 6 October 2026.
| Sight | Price | When to buy | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| teamLab Planets (Toyosu) | from ¥3,800, day-dependent | fixed time slots, none at the door | teamLab shop, agencies, platforms |
| teamLab Borderless (Azabudai Hills) | ¥3,400, day-dependent | none at the door | per teamLab: its own site and Klook |
| Shibuya Sky | ¥2,700 until 14:59, ¥3,400 from 15:00 | up to 14 days ahead | official ticket page |
| Ghibli Museum (Mitaka) | ¥1,000 | the 10th of the month, 10:00 JST, for the next month | Lawson Ticket (official) |
| Sumo (Kokugikan) | chair ¥2,500 to ¥9,500, box for four ¥34,000 to ¥60,000 | January 2027: from 5 December 2026 | Ticket Oosumo (official) |
The calendar is unforgiving. To visit in December you must book the Ghibli Museum on 10 November at 10:00 Japan time, which is 2 am in central Europe; the next deadline is 10 October at 3 am, for November. Build your days around these dates, not the other way round; the choice of district depends on it too (Where to stay in Tokyo).
teamLab: two venues, two tickets
Tokyo has two teamLab museums, and mixing them up is the most common mishap. Planets, in Toyosu, is the one where you walk barefoot through water; the official page gives it until the end of 2027, open 8:00 to 22:00 with a few closing days (5 November, 3 December). Borderless, in Azabudai Hills, is the “museum without a map”, usually 8:30 to 21:00. Both use day-dependent prices and a fixed entry time (Planets from ¥3,800, about €21; Borderless ¥3,400, about €19); no tickets are sold at the door. How far ahead the slots open is not stated in the text we read; third-party guides say two to three weeks for weekends, which we could not verify.
The deciding point is the refund. In the official Planets shop a ticket cannot be cancelled or refunded, but its date and time can be changed up to three times, no later than two hours before. With agencies and platforms, their terms apply; for GetYourGuide offers marked “free cancellation”, the general terms provide a full refund up to 24 hours before the start (the platform blocks automated reading, so the clause comes from a search-engine excerpt). The listing “Tokyo: teamLab Planets TOKYO Digital Art Museum Entry Ticket” appears there from about $27, rated 4.6 out of 5 on around 14,300 reviews (excerpt of 6 October, in dollars, indicative). To compare slots and cancellation, you can look at the teamLab tickets and other entries on GetYourGuide; check that the date and entry time appear on the ticket.
Shibuya Sky: 14 days, two rates, one weather risk
On the official ticket page, Shibuya Sky costs ¥2,700 online (about €15) for entry up to 14:59 and ¥3,400 from 15:00, sold up to two weeks ahead; if the web is sold out, so is the window. Anyone who wants the sunset always pays the higher rate: in Tokyo the sun sets at 17:08 on 15 October and 16:30 on 15 December (calculated from sunrise-sunset.org). The risk is the weather: in strong wind, rain, snow or thunderstorms the roof may close, and you book before the forecast. Bags, hats, tripods and selfie sticks are banned on the roof; lockers are on the 46th floor. GetYourGuide mostly shows Shibuya Sky inside guided tours, such as “Tokyo: Shibuya Sky, Harajuku & Meiji Shrine Highlights Tour”; for a plain ticket, ¥2,700 and ¥3,400 are the yardstick.
Ghibli Museum: the sale is a date, not a period
According to the museum’s website, there is no entry without a reservation and no tickets at the museum. Adults pay ¥1,000; it is open 10:00 to 18:00, photos are banned inside, and the ticket is valid only for the date and entry time chosen. From abroad there are two routes: the English Lawson Ticket site, where next month’s sale opens on the 10th of every month at 10:00 Japan time, and the Sunrise Tours JTB bus tour. And the sentence that names the trap: “Ticket purchase for resale is not allowed”. What is sold elsewhere as a “Ghibli ticket” should be read with caution; we do not claim that GetYourGuide sells this ticket. If you miss the date, there is the next month’s.
Sumo: only three tournaments in Tokyo
Tokyo hosts three of the year’s six tournaments, at the Kokugikan: January, May, September. The next runs from 10 to 24 January 2027, with sales opening on 5 December 2026 according to the Japan Sumo Association’s schedule. The price list gives ¥2,500 to ¥9,500 (about €14 to €53) per person for a chair seat, and ¥34,000 to ¥60,000 for a box of four, where you sit on the floor. The range runs from category D (online only) to S; the middle category B costs ¥5,000 to ¥5,500 (about €28 to €31), less on weekdays than at weekends; ringside seats (tamari) cost ¥20,000 per person (about €112). The association’s English page shows only categories B and C; the full range comes from a compilation of the official list, September 2026. Sales go through “Ticket Oosumo”, in English. Outside the tournaments, there is morning practice (keiko) at a stable, as a guided visit: GetYourGuide lists several, from about an hour and a half to three hours, rated 4.4 to 4.9 in the excerpts of 6 and 7 October, from roughly $74 to over $200 depending on length and content.
Day trips: Fuji, Nikko, Kamakura
Three excursions come up most often (“tokio ausflug fuji” and “tokio ausflug nikko” in German). Tour prices are excerpts in dollars, so indicative.
| Destination | On your own | Guided day |
|---|---|---|
| Fuji (Kawaguchiko) | bus from Shinjuku ¥2,000 to ¥2,200, 1 h 45; Fuji Excursion ¥4,200 | from about $64 ($80 before discount) |
| Nikko | from Asakusa ¥1,400 (2 h 43) or ¥3,050 by express (1 h 50) | from about $79 ($99 before discount) |
| Kamakura | JR from Tokyo, about 57 minutes, ¥1,040; Great Buddha ¥300 | 10 h, from $58, Buddha entry included |
Fuji. The Shinjuku bus costs about €12, the Fuji Excursion train ¥4,200 (about €24) for just under 2 hours. Since 1 October 2026 the bus is booked only through Highway Bus (Keio) or Fujiyama Connect (Fujikyu); fares have not changed. The weather is the unknown: a third-party source (isfujivisible.com, 17 September 2026, a single year of data) counts 100% of January mornings as clearly visible on the north side, but 32% in October (see Best time to visit Japan). Choose a trip you can cancel free of charge and check the forecast the day before: compare day trips from Tokyo on GetYourGuide.
Nikko. At Tobu, the Nikko Pass “All Area” costs ¥8,000 (about €45) for four days. It covers the Asakusa–Shimo-Imaichi round trip, Tobu buses in Nikko and the Lake Chuzenji cruises, but neither the express supplement nor temple entry fees, and according to Tobu it is reserved for travellers from abroad. For one day it is not automatically worth it: an express round trip comes to 2 × ¥3,050 = ¥6,100, a slow train to 2 × ¥1,400 = ¥2,800 (fares from Tokyo Cheapo, July 2025, to be rechecked). We do not quote the Toshogu entry fee because sources contradict each other. Kamakura. The Great Buddha costs ¥300 according to the temple, and is open 8:00 to 17:00 in winter, no reservation; the network and Suica are explained in Getting around Japan.
What costs nothing in Tokyo
The city hall in Shinjuku has two observation decks 202 metres up, free according to the city’s tourist office, until 22:00 (check the hours); the south tower closes on the first and third Tuesday, the north tower on the second and fourth Monday. The Imperial Palace East Gardens are free, closed Mondays and Fridays. Meiji Jingu is open daily from sunrise to sunset; only its garden and museum charge ¥500. Senso-ji in Asakusa is listed as free.
Before you pay: the checks
- Date and time are both on the ticket.
- Who is selling? The Ghibli Museum names two official routes; for Borderless, teamLab names its own site and Klook.
- Cancellation: no refund in teamLab’s shop; up to 24 hours before for GetYourGuide “free cancellation” offers.
- What is included: entries, meals, meeting point.
- Final price in yen against the list above, not the dollar “from” price.
And the platform? On Trustpilot, GetYourGuide stands at 3.9 out of 5 on 56,632 reviews on 6 October 2026: 68% five stars, 19% one star. The criticisms concern operators who do not show up or cancel, invalid tickets and refunds seen as small. Save the voucher offline and note the meeting point. If those lines check out, you can open the offers for your date on GetYourGuide. Route and budget for the other days: Japan itinerary for two weeks and Japan budget for two weeks.
Top-rated activities in Japan, bookable online:
