Trip report: Studio Ghibli & Friday Road Show special exhibition (in Toyama until January & in Kyoto Spring 2024)

#Preamble

This trip turned out to be our last hurrah on the nationwide JR pass, so we decided to visit some old favorites and explore new places in areas of Japan that would become vastly more expensive in the future => JR Tokai and JR East territory.

Among these was the JR Hida service for its excellent scenery. We stayed in Nagoya the previous night (to eat yakitori) followed by two nights in Toyama: one day to travel up with a few hours stop in Takayama + evening TeamLabs illumination at Kanazawa Castle and dinner at an old Kanazawa favorite, second day was a floater that ended up being Togakushi + Zenkoji + Toyama bay sushi for dinner, and third morning needed an activity before heading to our next stop – enter the Ghibli exhibition at Toyama Prefecture Museum of Art.

We are not major Ghibli fans (have only watched Spirited Away and Totoro), and still really enjoyed this exhibition.

# What is Friday Road Show

“Friday Road Show” is a longstanding weekly program on Japanese TV which has broadcast many Ghibli productions, so this exhibition has elements from both Ghibli itself and the Friday Road Show program. The FRS part is not “intrusive” and it is still very enjoyable without knowing or caring about said program.

This exhibit was [in Tokyo](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/13f9o95/studio_ghibli_exhibition_in_tokyo_june_29/) earlier this year, will be in Toyama until January 2024, and has announced future dates including Kyoto in “spring 2024”.

#Ticket purchase process
Pleasantly easy compared to everything else Ghibli!

I read on Reddit that the Tokyo exhibit had sold out of tickets fairly early on so set a calendar reminder to book at the date/time Toyama tickets became available. This proves to be unnecessary. There was very good availability when I wanted to change dates one week out.

[Free cancellation up to two days in advance, English available in the ticket purchase process, accepts US credit cards.](https://www.e-tix.jp/kinro-ghibli-toyama/)

Admission is free for kids under 18. For this reason we chose to visit on a weekday morning, so as to minimize the odds of encountering screaming kids or squealing students (it is Japan, but still).

#Exhibition itself (spoilers ahead)
We booked the first entry slot (9:30-10am) and [arrived](https://i.imgur.com/rXDaiKIl.jpg) at 9:45am. There was no queuing whatsoever throughout the exhibition and often we were the only people in a section of the exhibit – you can spend as long as you want without guilt, waiting, or disruption 😀

Order of exhibits is as follows:

* [entrance](https://i.imgur.com/XPHfSjel.jpg)

* short film

* Displays explaining each Ghibli film, some pencil sketches of scenes from said film, major events which happened that year on FRS and in the world as a whole. All in Japanese but the pictures are self explanatory, and with kanji + hiragana one can figure out the gist of what is going on.

* [glass lantern room](https://i.imgur.com/kIGccy8l.jpg) – this was very clever and a really great atmosphere, no more than 5-10 people in the hall at any given time and often we had it to ourselves.

* Scene from the new movie with staff members to take your picture.

* [Several scenes](https://i.imgur.com/oTfGfMFl.jpg) from older movies with staff members to take your picture. There were more staff than visitors and everyone was encouraged to take as long as they wanted.

* [Nausicaa](https://i.imgur.com/2WWqDJCl.jpg) [area](https://i.imgur.com/oWbEk1sl.jpg). Really cool.

* gift shop

Bonus: [rooftop](https://i.imgur.com/jMjtYb1l.jpg)
The top floor of the museum has a lovely view of Kansui Park (and the famous Starbucks) and of the mountains. There is also an activity park where I enjoyed a lie on the hammocks and “only” got a weird look from the security guard before realizing it was for recommended ages 7-12…in any case I can confirm they support the weight of a grown woman lol

#Conclusion
This was a great way to spend a morning! I have added Nausicaa to my watch queue.

I would highly recommend this exhibit if you are visiting anywhere between Kanazawa and Nagano (30-60 minutes away on the Shinkansen) and have a cursory interest in Ghibli.