What it is
The studio tour opened in June 2023 on part of the site of Toshimaen, a much-loved amusement park that closed in 2020. It is the second of its kind after the original near London, and it is run by Warner Bros. Some of the larger sets were made specially for Tokyo by people who worked on the films, while many of the costumes and props on show are originals used on screen.
After a short introduction you go at your own pace, with no time limit, and the studio suggests allowing three to four hours. Fans of the films easily stay longer, so keep the rest of the day loose. Everything except the Backlot is indoors, which makes it a good plan for a rainy or very hot day.
What to see inside
After a short film, the tour opens with the doors of the Great Hall, and from there you move at your own pace. Along the route are Dumbledore's office, the Forbidden Forest with Buckbeak and the giant spider Aragog, Platform 9¾ with the Hogwarts Express, and the full-size Ministry of Magic, a set found only in Tokyo, where you can step into a fireplace for a Floo Network photo.
About halfway is the outdoor Backlot, with the Knight Bus, Hagrid's hut, the Backlot Café and the Butterbeer Bar (Butterbeer is non-alcoholic). Elsewhere on the route are Diagon Alley with Gringotts, rooms on costumes, creature effects and visual effects, a broomstick experience where you "fly" like the cast, and a large model of Hogwarts castle. Two shops, the Studio Shop and the Railway Shop, sell wands, robes and items found only here, and you need a tour ticket to enter them.
- Photos and video with phones and handheld cameras are allowed almost everywhere, except in the pre-show cinema and the green-screen areas.
- Bring a refillable bottle: there are water servers on the route, but no cups.
- The Backlot Café, about halfway, is the place for a proper meal once the tour has started. The Food Hall and Frog Café are in the lobby.
The year at the studio
The tour changes with the seasons. In autumn 2026 it is running Dark Arts Halloween for the first time in Japan, with the Great Hall dressed for Halloween, Death Eaters roaming the tour and Dementors lurking in the shadows. Winter brings a festive season, called Magical Winter in 2026, with special Dinner at Hogwarts evenings on a few December dates that sell separately.
Through the year there are extras on top of the standard ticket: afternoon tea and evening high tea packages at the Backlot Café, guided tours, a wand-making workshop for children and occasional night tours through darkened sets. Several of these are run in Japanese only, so read the details before you book. Seasonal programmes and special evenings appear in the list below when they are announced.
Tickets, timing and rules
Every ticket is for a date and an entry time, and the studio limits how many people are inside at once. Buy on the official site, where prices vary through the year and dates are released several months ahead; weekends and school holidays sell out first. The ticket office on site sells only what is left for the day, 7-Eleven stores sell tickets in Japanese, and so do authorised distributors, including several large travel booking sites. Tickets from auction sites or other resellers are not valid.
Tickets cannot be refunded or transferred. A change of date or time costs a fee and must be arranged with Visitor Services before your slot. You can enter up to an hour before your time to use the lobby cafés, and should enter within 30 minutes after it. Adults are 18 and over, juniors 12 to 17 and children 4 to 11; children under 4 go free. Bags are checked at the entrance, and large suitcases belong in the outdoor lockers before you go in.
There is no ATM on site and no tax-free shopping. The shops take cash, cards, Apple Pay and some QR payments, but not transport IC cards such as Suica. The multilingual digital guide, normally a paid extra, was suspended after a small fire on September 29, 2026 in which no one was hurt, so check the news on the official site before counting on it.
- Pushchairs are welcome, though not wagon-style ones, and free pushchairs and wheelchairs can be borrowed at the Information Desk.
- Every toilet block has baby-changing facilities, and there is a nursing room inside the tour.
- The studio recommends coming by train. For visits through 2026, parking must be booked with your ticket; from 2027 you pay on arrival.
Getting there and nearby
The studio is a two-minute walk from Toshimaen, where the Seibu and Toei lines have separate stations. From Ikebukuro, take a local train on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line bound for Toshimaen; they run straight through in about 17 minutes. Express trains do not go there, so if you are on one, change at Nerima. From Shinjuku, the Toei Oedo Line runs straight to Toshimaen in about 20 minutes. The Oedo Line is covered by the Tokyo Subway Ticket, the Seibu line is not. Airport Limousine buses from Haneda stop at the studio entrance.
A short walk from the station, Niwa no Yu is a hot-spring spa with a Japanese garden, good for tired legs after the tour, though children under junior-high age and people with tattoos cannot enter. The first section of Nerima Castle Ruins Park, on another part of the old Toshimaen grounds, is free and always open. Ikebukuro, with Sunshine City and its anime shops, is the natural stop on the way back.
Do not confuse the studio with the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a separate production performed in Japanese at TBS Akasaka ACT Theater in central Tokyo, with its own tickets. Its Tokyo run is scheduled to end on December 27, 2026; see the official site.
