Studio Ghibli and Tokyo Metro team up for summer stamp rally with adorable Catbus prize

But you’ll want to act fast.

Sadly, Tokyo doesn’t have a fleet of Studio Ghibli Catbuses scurrying around the streets, taking passengers to wherever they need to get to in Japan’s capital. Tokyo does have what’s probably the next best thing in terms of public transportation, though, with its extensive, reliable, and convenient rail network.

Still, that doesn’t mean that Tokyo’s subways couldn’t use a little extra Catbus atmosphere, and so Tokyo Metro is teaming up with Studio Ghibli for a special stamp rally this summer.

Stamp rallies are a kind of promotion occasionally run by rail operators in Japan. You start by going to a station and getting a special piece of paper with a series of blank spots on it. Each of these spots is to be filled in with a different unique rubber ink stamp found at other stations along the line or within the same rail network. Once you’ve made the rounds and done all the necessary stamping, you submit the filled-in paper, and receive, or are entered into a lottery to receive, some sort of prize.

On June 13, the Tokyo Metro subway network will be kicking off its Ghibli Park and Ghibli Exhibition Stamp Rally. With only five stamps to get, it’s pretty easy to complete by stamp rally standards, but the prize is especially adorable–this exclusive Catbus sticker, with the My Neighbor Totoro character dashing at full speed above the text, “And now, off to Tokyo!”

The five stations you’ll need to visit, and where the stamps are located, are:

● Aoyama-itchome Station (Ginza and Hanzomon Lines): Near Exit 1
● Monzen-nakacho Station (Tozai Line): Near Monzennakacho Intersection ticket gate (Exits 3-6)
● Edogawabashi Station (Yurakucho Line): Near ticket gate
● Ichigaya Station (Yurakucho and Namboku Lines): Near Ichiyatamachi ticket gate (Exits 5-7)
● Todaimae Station (Namboku Line): Near stationmaster’s office

All of the stamps are available between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., and while this is a promotion being run by Tokyo Metro, you don’t actually have to ride the subway, or even purchase a ticket, in order to use the stamps, as they’re all located outside the ticket gates, in publicly accessible spaces. The stamp rally paper can be obtained at most Tokyo Metro stations, though not the following: Kita Senju, Naka-meguro, Nakano, Nishi Funabashi, Yoyogi Uehara, Wakoshi, and Shibuya.

After you collect all the stamps, you can submit it at the Niteleya store Shiodome branch to get your sticker. You don’t need to get the stamps in any particular order or even all on the same day, as long as you get them all by July 15…but you probably won’t want to wait that long to finish the rally, since the Catbus stickers are limited to a quantity of 7,000, and given the popularity of Ghibli in general, and the Catbus in particular, they’re sure to go fast.

▼ The stamp rally’s promotional poster

Meanwhile, the Ghibli Park and Ghibli Exhibition will be taking place in Tokyo from June 13 to July 15, the same days as the stamp rally, displaying artworks, models, and design documents related to the Hayao Miyazaki co-founded anime studio and its Aichi Prefecture theme park.

▼ Photos from the exhibition during its Niigata iteration this past April

The exhibition will be held at the Warehouse Terada event space in downtown Tokyo’s Tennozu Isle neighborhood, which, ironically, does not have a Tokyo Metro station nearby.

Related: Ghibli Park and Ghibli Exhibition Tokyo official website
Source: PR Times
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times (1, 2)
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