Harry Potter Studio Tour Tokyo: how to plan the day

Tickets: online only, and early

Tickets are timed and sold online only, with no sales at the door, and weekends and Japanese school holidays sell out weeks ahead. Book as soon as your dates are fixed, and choose a morning entry if you want a calmer visit. Bring the booking on your phone and the passport or ID used for it.

How long it takes, and what to see

Plan on about four hours inside, more with children who want to try everything. You walk through the Great Hall, Diagon Alley, the Forbidden Forest and Platform 9 3/4 with the Hogwarts Express, and the Tokyo tour has sets you will not find in London, including the Ministry of Magic. There is a café for butterbeer and a very large shop at the end.

Getting there

The studio is next to Toshimaen station on the Seibu line, about fifteen minutes from Ikebukuro, so the train is easy if you travel light. By car it is about forty five minutes to an hour from central Tokyo, depending on traffic. With small children, a pushchair, or the bags from the shop, a car that waits at the entrance makes the day much simpler.

Making a day of it

The studio fills most of a day. If you have energy left, the afternoon can continue in Ikebukuro, with its shopping streets and the Sunshine City aquarium, about twenty minutes away, or simply back to your hotel for a rest before dinner.

By car, and the price

A chauffeur by the hour collects you at your hotel, waits during the visit and brings you back, with the shopping safely in the car. It is from ¥16,000 per hour with a two hour minimum; a studio day with the drive usually takes six to seven hours, close to a full day of eight hours from ¥126,000. Your chauffeur can speak English, Italian, Spanish, French or Japanese, at the same price.

See the full By the hour private tour, with prices and itinerary →