There’s a little silver lining to Himeji Castle’s new tiered ticket prices, but if you’re not a local, it’s probably going to cost you a whole lot more.

The town of Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, really only has one major sightseeing attraction. Of course, since said attraction is Himeji Castle, widely considered the most beautiful and well-preserved castle in all of Japan, so to anyone with an interest in Japanese history or classical architecture, it’s worth visiting.

However, experiencing Himeji Castle’s cultural and aesthetic value is going to come with increased costs, as the city’s municipal government has announced plans to double, and possibly even triple, the cost of admission to the castle for non-local adult tourists.

Currently, ticket costs for Himeji Castle are based solely on age. For adults (including college students), the price is 1,000 yen (US$6.65). Tickets for elementary, middle, or high school students are 300 yen, and admission is free for kids younger than that.

The municipal government had been discussing raising ticket prices to pay for additional earthquake-proofing of the castle’s stone walls, and the city’s mayor initially floated the idea of a two-tiered pricing system in which foreign tourists would be charged higher prices. This proposal was deemed “premature,” and in its stead the decision has been made to charge higher prices for all non-Himeji-resident adults, including residents of other Japanese cities.

Under the new system, tickets will remain at 1,000 yen for Himeji adults, but prices for other adults will increase to somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 yen. The exact price is scheduled to be decided upon this coming March, at the start of the new fiscal year.

There is a bit of a silver lining for out-of-towners, though, and one that locals benefit from too. Under the new ticket pricing system, admission to Himeji Castle will be free for all visitors age 17 and under, regardless of where they’re coming from. This decision was made in order to “Show the wonder of [Himeji] Castle to children from all over the world,” according to a report by Hyogo newspaper Kobe Shimbun Next. Oddly enough, this does mean that the price for 18-year-olds who are still in high school will rise from 300 to 1,000 yen for Himeji residents, and to the yet higher price for out-of-town visitors.

1,479,567 people visited Himeji Castle in 2023, with roughly 12 percent of them paying the 300-yen student admission price. That works out to a little over 53 million yen that the city will be forgoing (minus admission paid by 18-year-old high school students) by making the castle free for visitors under 18, but that figure is projected to be more than made up for with the increased prices charged to out-of-towners. The increased revenue is planned for use in restoration projects and in “establishing new businesses,” such as a luggage storage service.

Online reactions to the new pricing plan have been largely negative on Japanese Twitter, with comments such as:

“Well, that’ll reduce visitor numbers.”
“Guess I’m not going to Himeji.”
“At least let Hyogo Prefecture residents in for the cheaper admission.”
“All right, taking Himeji Castle off my travel list. Guess it’s on to Okayama Castle.”
“Isn’t this going to have the opposite of its intended effect? Even people living in the neighboring towns and prefectures are going to be less likely to go to Himeji and support its local businesses. There’s no guarantee that the inbound foreign tourism boom is going to go on forever.”
“No way people from the next town over are gonna visit Himeji Castle if they have to pay those new prices.”
“I think there’s going to be a big drop in domestic visitors, and the place will be filled with just travelers from overseas.”

The scenario described by the last comment isn’t so far-fetched. For foreign travelers on what may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Japan, an extra 2,000 yen to get into Himeji Castle isn’t going to be that big a deal once it’s folded into their total travel budget along with international round-trip airfare, rail pass/train ticket expenses as they hit up multiple tourism destinations around the country, and all the “Japan stuff” souvenir shopping they want to do for the foreseeable future. As such, the higher ticket price may not dissuade all that many foreign tourists, especially with the weak yen currently dampening the price raise in absolute (i.e. non-proportional) terms.

On the other hand, Japanese domestic tourists are definitely going to notice the difference. For comparison, among Osaka, Nagoya, Hikone, Matsumoto, Matsue, and Kumamoto Castles, all among Japan’s most-visited castles, Hikone is the only one that currently charges 1,000 yen for adult admission, with tickets for all the others being less expensive than that. Himeji’s new pricing system would make it, by far, the most expensive castle in Japan for out-of-town adults to visit, and is likely to severely diminish its attractiveness to day trippers and other domestic travelers whose visits wouldn’t be part of a Japan vacation they’ve set aside hundreds of thousands of yen for.

Source: Kobe Shimbun Next, Twitter, Twitter/@kobeshinbun, Twitter/@livedoornews
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Wikipedia/Nubero
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