Japanese ticket seller too scared to ask for money, costs park $330,000

Embarrassing admission: The park employee admitted he lost face when ticketing non-japanese speaking guests. Photo / Getty Images

A ticket seller lost a Japanese park $330,000 in admissions fees when he let 125,000 tourists in for free - because he was too scared to ask for money.

Shinjuku Gyoen, a national park in Tokyo, charges just $2.80 (200 yen) for adult admission to the stunning gardens.

But the park, which is managed by the Ministry of the Environment, revealed in January that an admissions gate employee had been letting foreign visitors in free for two and a half years.

Shinjuku Gyoen is one of the Tokyo's largest and most popular parks, featuring French, English and Japanese gardens. Photo / Matteo Colombo, Getty Images

The unnamed man, who is in his 70s, said he was afraid to communicate with non-Japanese guests because he didn't speak their language.

It has now been estimated that his actions lost the national park more than $330,000 (25million yen).

But although the elderly employee wasn't collecting money from the guests, he was still issuing them tickets, SoraNews24 reported.

Passes for the park contain a QR code, which guests have to scan at the gate to enter.

It is also believed these free tickets stated, in English, that the admission price was 200 yen.

'Free tickets': The admission price of 200 yen was printed on the tickets. Photo / TripAdvisor, Supplied

The employee appears to have asked another staff member, who handled data and processing, to undo the sales for him to avoid a discrepancy between recorded and actual revenue.

He continued handing out free tickets until December 2016, when another member of staff witnessed his odd behaviour and alerted management, the Guardian reported.

The park charges just 200 yen, about $2.80, for admission. Photo / Getty Images

The elderly man was docked 10 per cent of his salary, and asked to take retirement, offering to return half of his 300,000 yen retirement bonus.

Shinjuku Gyoen is one of the Tokyo's largest and most popular parks, featuring French, English and Japanese gardens.

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden: The employee had been letting in visitors for two years. Photo / Olaf Protze, Getty Images

It was founded during the Edo Period (1603 - 1867) as a feudal lord's residence in Tokyo before being converted into a botanical garden.

The park was almost completely destroyed during World War II, but was rebuilt and reopened in 1949 as a public park.