JTB for Ghibli package
 

Visiting Japan for a few days in Feb and the Wife would like to visit the Ghibli Park. Only way to get tickets seems to be a package with JTB - price seems pretty good so that’s fine. However, JTB require kanji and katakana names, and will only take Japanese addresses. Can’t find any contact details, so coming here to ask: any issues using JTB as a foreigner? If it’s fine, what’s the best way to fill in the name fields that won’t cause a problem, and am I ok to put the address of the hotel I’m booking through them when completing details?

Use your hotel address

https://japanesenameconverter.nolanlawson.com/
Put in some random katakana

As long as they are able to contact you (email), it should be ok

If you have a hotel concierge, ask them to do it

Google Translate is a fairly reliable way to get a Katakana version of your names that you can copy and paste into an online form. Click the audio icon under the Katakana to check that it's OK.
For the Kanji field, you could try typing your names as usual. If that fails, just paste in the Katakana version. (Alternatively, try double-width letters if you know how).
Good luck.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ff197db051.jpg
Google doesn't know that Cholmondeley is pronounced "Luxury Yacht," but it does a reasonable job with most names.

It'll only be this hotel, so that’s not really an option. I’ll just do it with Google Translate as long as there aren’t hidden pitfall.

That’s the Pythonesque reading, usually it’s the sheltered side of a good friend.

I see JTB have continued their knack for being unwieldy and frustrating.

Lordy it's awful. Managed to get it to work in safari, but it took so many accounts I didn't need the translation on! Hopefully that works, I'll have a Japanese colleague give it the once over for me. Thanks all for the advice.

I recently had to do this on another form. I just put my name in Roman characters (e.g. how I'd normally write it) and it worked fine. I think that's better than katakana as it's going to exactly match what's on my passport.

It depends on the forms
For free text it will be ok
For pre-designated name forms which require either hiragana or katakana or you to write them both, you will have to put in what is requested

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "required." Are you referring to forms that literally won't accept romaji, or forms that just say "Name in kanji" and "Name in kana" or similar, with the implication that that's what's required/wanted but actually will take anything? My suggesting is in all situations other than when the form won't accept roman characters as a technically-enforced rule, put in roman characters for your name even if the instructions on the form don't account for this. Whomever is reading the information will figure out that you're a foreigner and don't have a Kanji representation of your name. And, if some subsequent system requires a foreign name in katakana, they'll probably transliterate it for you.

Hello! Please, I am wondering if this technique worked for you. I am planning on going in Feb and having the same issue. I did convert my English name to Japanese with google translate, but I didn't want to commit yet because I wasn't sure if they would accept my name being different on my passport. It also wants a phone number that is in a different format than mine? Please tell me what you did and if it worked! Thank you so much!

We're not going until the beginning of Feb. I've spoken to a Japanese colleague about it, who said that the name was fine but hasn't [yet] opined on the phone number. My worry is that it said something about the tickets being delivered by mobile/needing a mobile for the park tickets. If that's literally delivered via SMS/MMS then it's going to be an issue, if it's just "you'll need a smartphone to display the ticket" [likely meaning it arrives by email] then not a problem.

I believe it was free to cancel until three weeks out, so I'm hoping to figure out more before that point!

It wouldn't take roman characters, IIRC.

Thank you so much for your reply! Please let me know if you learn more. I love Ghibli movies so much.

I am not able to post a link, but if you google JTB USA Ghibli Park (Aichi) - Ghibli Park Package / Hotel Keihan Nagoya with Breakfast, it looks like they have tours for USA citizens. I sent them a request.

A bit late for OP, but it seems Ghibli Park will be selling tickets directly to foreign visitors (sales start 1/10 for visits starting 3/15):

https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/g...sh-site-122222
https://ghibli-park.jp/en/ticket/

It appears to be a phased rollout; at first, foreigners can only buy tickets for "Ghibli's Grand Warehouse."

Our hotel (Conrad Tokyo) has told us the studio won't sell tickets to foreigners. We're traveling 1/22, I guess we'll try again next time.

A (possibly) easier option, if they haven't been already, would be to consider a visit to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.

I've been a few times and it is a fantastic experience for the Ghibli fan

There is still a process to get tickets but it seems more doable for foreigners, even now

Similarly when to the Museum and it was a really cool experience. Can't take photos inside though, but I got tickets through JTB as well and they were reasonable.

Indeed that would be too late for us.

Looking carefully at the [translated] site, it seems that the need for a mobile is only because the tickets are digital, not because they're delivered by text message. Question then to the more experienced visitors - and likely more importantly the Japanese residents - if we arrive with tickets despite the present lack of sales to foreigners, are we likely to have any issues...?

How did you purchase the tickets for JTB?

I used the package option [hotel + shinkansen + park tickets] on the website. You have to struggle through translate though if you can't read Japanese, and the site is prone to bugging in Chrome and Safari - it seemed best in Firefox [which doesn't have native translate support]. I have since noticed some tours on Viator including the park - presumably enterprising locals making use of having the inside line on getting tickets, along with providing translation. I would probably have used that, but by the time I saw them I was past the 21-day cancellation deadline with JTB so the bed was made.

We arrive Sunday, I have all the QR codes and confirmations which I need to print out today so hopefully all goes smoothly - I will revert to update.

Just to update: all went off smoothly enough. Bit slow through the border at Narita lead to less time than we’d have liked to pick up Shinkansen tickets - complicated by JTB tickets only being issued by machines outside the gates. Once we got pointed in the right direction we were fine and no issues at Ghibli Park at all. The first two areas are fairly minimal and not many visitors were doing those (I presume they are keeping the numbers very low). The warehouse is much bigger and busier.

Enjoy your trip! Thanks for the heads up with the Viator tour service. I downloaded the app, and it seems like an excellent place to book other tours in addition to ghbili.

Did you have fun at Ghibli Park? I visited the Ghibli Museum in 2012 and am looking to return to Japan next year with my husband who has never been. Unsure if we should venture out to Ghibli Park or if I should just revisit the museum. Any suggestions?

I'm not the Ghibli fan, that would be my wife - and we haven't been to the museum. The park is cute, but feels a bit bare-bones at the moment - of course the majority of the content was going over my head. My wife enjoyed it. There are a couple more areas under construction, so if you can choose your visit to be after those are due to be open I would certainly do that.

It would be a pretty long day to do as a day trip if you weren't planning to stay in Nagoya, but would definitely recommend the city itself as being worth stopping in.

Hi, I just booked a hotel in Nagoya with timed entry to the park through the Japanese JTB website. I used Google Translate to get "Japanese equivalents" for my name. Did you have any trouble at all checking into your hotel as the reservation must have been under the Japnese name you gave at booking? What about at the park? Did they have any issues matching the Japanese name you gave them with what's on your passport? Did they even bother to check passports? Thank you!

I took an untranslated printout of the JTB booking, which I showed to the front desk. I don't recall names being checked at the gate, I think it was just the QR code.

Perfect!
Thanks so much for the quick reply!