Shibuya Sky Ticket purchase tips

Hi there. Today I was able to procure tickets to Shibuya Sky for the exact time slot I wanted. I scoured for information on how to do this but didn't find a comprehensive post so I thought I'd share. This includes tips I found and what I discovered

  1. Book on the actual site.
  2. Book 29 days in advance (currently). I had read tickets opened up at Midnight Tokyo time 30 days beforehand. For my recent purchase after stalking the site it turned out to be 29 days. Check a few days before the 29 days to get a sense on what day the tickets will open up for your planned date. Plan to sign on about 10 minutes before and refresh. You will ultimately be placed into a virtual line to purchase. This moved quickly.
  3. The ideal time to go (at least for me and most) is 30 to 60 minutes before sunset. Google the time for the particular day you're looking. It apparently will take about 30 minutes to be allowed entry and ascend to the top. You will also have to stop and store anything you have that isn't allowed to the top in the storage lockers. Cost 100 yen and refundable.
  4. Practice purchasing on the site in English if you are not Japanese speaking. When I went to purchase and tried to get on the website 5 minutes before tickets opened the English switch would not load. It was because of my memory of the site from checking it. I was able to just book on the Japanese version which was loading. I was on my phone and the 'puzzle piece' in the search window for Google helped me translate the pages to English but it would mess up the boxes to complete and check so I'd have to toggle back to Japanese.
  5. Klook didn't open up time slots at the same time as the official site. When I looked later all the optimal time slots were gone.
  6. By the time I figured all of this out the latest before sunset was 340 pm. I booked it. About 5 minutes later I found 4 pm. I canceled the 340 pm and purchased this time. 20 minutes later I found my ideal time. I canceled the 4pm and booked the 530 pm. (Sunset is 630). When you purchase on the official site with a credit card you can cancel with a 20% penalty. It is very easy to do. The cost of the ticket was 2200 + 880 yen (cancelation 440 x 2).

I hope this helps someone. I felt like I was searching for Adele tickets. And thanks to all who recommended wearing a windbreaker when you ascend. I suspect it's like the Empire State Building on steroids.