For “Doraemon” fans! Fujiko F. Fujio Museum in Kawasaki Part 1 – How to get Tickets

Originally featured on dennisamith.com

For “Doraemon” fans, the Fujiko F. Fujio Museum in Kawasaki is a must visit location.

For those who are not familiar with “Doraemon”, back in 1969 when Fujiko F. Fujio created the popular manga (comic book) series “Doraemon”.

One of the best-selling manga in the world, “Doraemon” has sold over 100 million copies as of 2015.

Fujiko F. Fujio is actually a duo comprised of two Japanese manga artists: Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko, who became partners in 1951 and adopted the name Fujiko Fujio in 1954. The two ended their partnership in 1987, so there are individual works released under two different names, Fujiko Fujio A (for Abiko) and Fujiko F. Fujio (for Fujimoto).

While “Doraemon” may not have had the promotion as it does in Japan in another countries, those into Japanese pop culture know how popular the character is, as Doraemon is a popular character in Japanese pop culture, as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny is to American culture.

“Doraemon” has had success in comics, animation, films, video games and is no doubt a merchandise powerhouse that people of all generations still continue to purchase to this day, despite Fujiko F. Fujio’s passing in 1996.

The manga revolves around a pre-teen boy named Nobita Nobi. Nobita is not good with anything…sports, socializing, if anything, he’s quite lazy and naive.

But one day, Nobita is shocked when a robotic cat from the future named Doraemon and a male teen from the 22nd century come to visit him. Doraemon explains that teen is Sewashi, the great-great-grandson of Nobita.

Of course, Nobita doesn’t believe it at first, but Sewashi explains to him that he is unlucky and would make things rough for his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren due to his unlucky nature. And so, he is leaving the robotic cat Doraemon to stay with him and help him.

Sewashi does give Nobita a hint of his future, that he would marry his childhood bully’s sister, Jaiko which shocks Nobita, consider he dislikes both Gian and Jaiko.

And so, Doraemon lives with Nobita in hopes to make his life better.

But due to Nobita’s laziness, each time Doraemon comes up with a gadget to help him, Nobita finds a way to misuse it and cause problems for himself and Doraemon.

Can Doraemon ever help Nobita to be a better person?

So, that’s a little of what “Doraemon” is about. But now you are interested in checking out the Fujiko F Fujio Museum.

[FUJIKO・F・FUJIO MUSEUM – Information] To ensure visitors can enjoy the Ｍuseum in a safe and comfortable way, the Fujiko Museum uses a reservation system based on specified dates and times.

[Tickets (Entry Vouchers)]
Adults and University Students 1,000yen
High School and Junior High School Students 700yen
Children (4 years or older) 500yen
*children at the age of 3 or younger are free of charge
*tax is included in the admission fee
*Maximum 6 tickets are available at each purchasing procedure.

[Admission Times]
The Museum is open from 10:00 to 18:00 (closed Tuesdays). There are four admission times per day:
First Admission: 10:00 (until 10:30)
Second Admission: 12:00 (until 12:30)
Third Admission: 14:00 (until 14:30)
Fourth Admission: 16:00 (until 16:30)
*Admission is possible up to 30 minutes after the Museum specified admission time.
*As there is no system requiring visitors to leave based on entry time, visitors may enjoy the Museum until closing time.

• STEP 1: To get tickets to the Fujiko F. Fujio Museum, the first step is to visit the website.
• STEP 2: Click on Tickets above the menu bar on the website.
• STEP 3: Click on Buy Tickets Online
• STEP 4: The museum lists two months of when you can purchase your admission tickets. So, for example, it’s November, so November and December will show up. Click on “Entry” (in pink) to access the calendar.

• STEP 5: Click on a date and select the time needed.

If you see a circle, that means available, triangle means a few left and X means sold out.

The system is similar to Ghibli Museum’s calendar, but where Ghibli Museum is often full of triangles or X’s, for Fujiko F. Fujio Museum, it is much easier to reserve your tickets.

As you can see, the tickets are very inexpensive and once you add your information and pay, you will receive an e-mail with a digital ticket with a QR code. Print that out and bring it with you, when you head to the museum.

Once arriving in the museum, wait in line and an employee at the museum will scan your QR code and offer you an actual ticket to get inside the museum.

And that is it! In tomorrow’s post, I will discuss about entering the museum.

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