Wanderlust V2 - Japan & Beyond

Photopassjapan.com

  I did promise a Ghibli Ticket buying guide. I wish it was more comprehensive like pictures of me at lawsons and the machine, but if you are bold enough to consider buying your own tickets thus far, then you can do this too!
I went to Ghibli Museum twice. I loved it both times. Some people say they've seen it already and decline after one time, but if you love Ghibli, go again and again. They have a special exhibit room for new projects that always changes! And they change out the special screenings of Ghibli film shorts. You can only view these once per visit and they change, so it's worth seeing. Oh and you can't watch them outside of the museum!

So if you've visited their site you may have noticed that there's two options for the average Ghibli goer who is on vacation. Otherwise you can have someone in Japan buy it for you and this guide is a moot point for you! The two options tend to be buy it through a service ( sometimes with double markup) or buy it at a lawson's convience store! Lawson's are everywhere really so it's not so hard to buy there! Also if you worry about lack of Japanese, I will recommend a few things:

1. Say G-bli or Jee-bli when referring to the museum.
2. Locate and write down the L-code ( you can put this in and get straight to tickets on the machine)
3. They have the guide to buy on the machine on the site: http://www.lawson.co.jp/ghibli/museum/ticket/english.html
4. If all else fails, go to the clerk at Lawsons, say G-bli to the store clerkand they will help you through the process!

Remember when buying from the machine, you take the little reciept back to the clerks at the counter to pay and get the REAL tickets. The machine is just a way to reserve them, but you have to pay for them and get the real tickets at the register. ( ALL within LAWSON's Convience store).
YOU CANNOT BUY TICKETS AT THE GHIBLI MUSEUM!  
You then show those tickets at the museum and they give you the souvenir tickets with a piece of film at the museum.

So what I will cover in the guide is how to check what tickets are available so that you have an idea of when you want to go and what time ( you have to buy them before you go). That will make it easier to buy your tickets at Lawson's.

Click into the Screenshots to see what I'm doing!

Search for Ghibli, copy Japanese characters.

Search for Lawson's tickets site.

Paste Japanese Ghibli into search.

L-codes should pop up and click into your month.

Check times and Dates. X- no tickets available, O- tickets available.

Oh and the red character at the beginning of the week is Sunday. So the weeks start with Sunday! :) 
So if you see x there are no tickets available at that time. If there is an O, that means tickets are still available. If there is neither, it means tickets are not purchasable. Example would be a date that already passed or one too far in the future ( such as April at this point).

So once you plan you can even screen shot that calendar and write down your L-code to take with you to Lawson's. The clerk should recognize it and the code will make it faster so you don't have to type in Japanese to search. Do not be shy to ask the clerk by showing them the paper or saying a one word G-bli. They understand that there are tourists and are accommodating. I have yet to find one turn me away or act anything but awesome. I even had a gentleman who wanted to use the machine, help speed up the process since I was having a hard time typing my name in lol. You won't have to do that if you ask the clerk. It'll be a lot faster.
I do have a Ghibli post coming up! :)

daruma doll from Blogadilla.com

Well I'm still working on the entries to my last trip and have planned another in April. My best friend from middle school wanted to go to Japan with me! I was thinking I wouldn't see Japan again for many more years, since financially I shouldn't be going on any trips. I was sad  but resolved. Then my best friend from middle school, who said she'd never be able to afford a trip like that... well she has plenty of money to go and is willing to pay for our activities and accommodations! ( she actually could of afforded this trip 10x over if she would stay in hostels, take trains, and eat from grocery store specials) So some how I lucked out yet again! I'm nervous because we are a bit different in tastes. Hostels sound like absolute hell to her, while hostels are wonderful slices of culture where you can meet wonderful people to me! I'm also very much of a walker and am trying to stay active through to my 70's. She is not a walker anymore ( in our teens she walked a lot more than I even did!). She also just wants to do activities and not buy things. While I am dying to buy things! I want to renew my good luck charms and I was considering whether to take my Daruma with me to get returned to a shrine. But he came out of the airport so I don't know if he'd be accepted anywhere.. I want to get a case for my phone if they have it, charms, doll clothes, fountain pen refills, maybe a bell wind chime, ghibli stuff!

Anyways even though I'm nervous, I know that 1) she is independent so if we really don't want to do something together ( like she wants to spa and I want to hike, example) then we can part for a few hours and meet up again.
2)We also both agree on Takarazuka (YES) and cake buffet!!!
3)Also I think we are getting excited to see one another. We had a dry spell where we never got to see each other anymore and where email killed our 40pg snail mail letters. So we are actually agreeing to a lot of compromised things to visit, like butler cafe( her), toy/doll stores ( me), karaoke ( both ), Ghibli ( me), Sento (her and kind of me if I could get over being naked in front of everyone)...

Unfortunately my previous companion was not happy about this, but I'm not sure how to remedy the situation with her. I went 2 weeks with her, while my best friend is asking 1 week & paying for the trip pretty much...
So I am a bit down because of that... but I will still keep the good memories of my last trip <3