Matsumoto Castle Ticket Prices to Be Raised; Wave of Price Hikes Could Hit Castles around Japan

The Yomiuri Shimbun

6:00 JST, August 30, 2024

The city of Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture plans to raise the adult admission price for national treasure Matsumoto Castle to ¥1,200 for a digital ticket and ¥1,300 for a physical ticket next April.

This is the first ticket price increase since 2020, when the price was raised to the current price of ¥700. Revenue from the tickets will be spent on preparing for natural disasters and other work on the castle, according to the municipal government.

The adult admission price for Osaka Castle also will be increased to ¥1,200 next spring, up from ¥600. Additionally, admission prices for other castles across the country have been, or could soon be, increased.

Currently, both digital and physical tickets for Matsumoto Castle cost ¥700 for high schoolers and adults. Digital tickets allow visitors to choose a specific date and time to enter the castle keep and are sold on the city’s website. In the future, the Matsumoto municipal government plans to abolish paper tickets that require staff to sell and manage them. That is why the digital tickets will be made ¥100 cheaper to encourage their use. For elementary and junior high school students, both digital and paper tickets will see a price rise from ¥300 to ¥400.

The municipal government decided to raise ticket prices to secure the more than ¥3.6 billion it needs for a multi-year castle improvement project starting this fiscal year, which includes making the keep quake-resistant and restoring the castle’s outer moat.

As for other castles registered as national treasures, the adult tickets for Hikone Castle in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, will be raised from ¥800 to ¥1,000 in October. The ticket price for Himeji Castle in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, is currently¥1,000 per adult, but the city is considering raising the price by April 2026. Tickets for Inuyama Castle in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, cost ¥550 while those for Matsue Castle in Matsue cost ¥680 per adult, and both cities are reportedly considering increasing their prices.

According to the municipal government, 897,406 people visited Matsumoto Castle in fiscal 2023. The number of foreign visitors reached a record high of 161,884, and revenue from tickets hit a record high of ¥511.22 million.