Question on tickets for live shows
 

Hello everybody!
Used to write a lot over here, but lately I haven't been writing much, though I still come and read a lot. Today I have a questions for the lucky ones who already know their way around tickets for live shows.
I managed to find a way to go and study in Japan for seven months, I will be there from April this year 'till October. I want to go to MANY live shows, but I do not have a clue where I should start looking for to buy a ticket.

Where do you buy tickets? where can you find cheap ones, or good seats?
Do you have any suggestion?

I don't belong to any fanclub. I would love to see ayu live, of course, also Koda, Namie, Ai Otsuka, Kana... these are the main ones.

Thank you very much, I'm sure there might already be some threads about this but I can't find anything with the search function!

These are the main online ticket websites in Japan , general ticket balloting wise

e+ http://eplus.jp/
L-tike http://l-tike.com/
Ticket Pia http://t.pia.jp/

I don't know how the ticket system works in your country but in Japan , I think they're the only country in the world where the ticketing system is based on balloting & not on a 1st come 1st serve basis (which's the most common method used in my country and normally this means the online ticketing system will crash very frequent for the more popular English or non English artistes)

This means that you will be given a certain period of time to ballot for an artiste's concert ticket . Depending on the artiste or venue , you may be allow to ballot to up to 2 tickets or 4 tickets per person

Also it's not necessary you have to ballot for the maximum number of tickets . You can ballot for only 1 ticket if you're going alone

After the allocated time frame , balloting will be closed and then a few days later you will find out if your balloting is successful or not successful by email

If your ticket balloting is successful , you will be given a new time frame to pay and if for some reason you choose to forfeit or miss the payment deadline , the website might penalise you in not giving you a successful balloting application in the near future

Balloting is based on luck so it doesn't mean once the time allocation to ballot for tickets is open , you should immediately ballot for tickets . You could ballot tickets on the last day of the deadline but yet you still might win it

You wouldn't know the seat number immediately , you would only know about if your seat number is good or bad when the tickets are mailed to you 1-2 weeks before the actual concert date

If you don't want to go through this method , you can always try http://www.ticket.co.jp/ or Yahoo Japan Auctions but usually for these , the sellers would tell you the ticket number upfront and normally you're expected to pay even more than the actual face value of the ticket cost

Also depending on the artiste , some are strict and might check the ticket particulars prior to allowing you to enter the venue so if you buy a ticket from a 3rd party , they might not allow you in

The reason why fans join any artistes' fanclub is to get better chances in scoring better tickets cos usually when the general sale balloting is open , by then the not so good / bad seats will be left while a considerable number of tickets are reserved 1st hand by an artiste's fanclub

But end of the day it really depends on your luck . You might ballot via the general ticket sale & your seat number could be even better than someone who balloted/got their tickets via the fanclub

If all else fails , there's always a small possibility to buy tickets at the door on the day of an artiste's concert , provided if they post online that they're still selling leftover tickets on the day itself . I haven't tried this method before but my friend has before and normally for this , the ticket number would be way at the back but if you don't mind , then go for it

Thank you very much, you have been amazingly clear!
In my country it works as you said, not by ballot but by a 1st come 1st serve rule, so I am not used to this kind of system. It's confusing ahah.

Can I ask you one question though?
You said I can ballot more tickets per person depending on the show, but if I am going alone and let's say I want to try balloting for 4 tickets (to see if I can score a better place among the successful ones or just to be sure I get my ticket! I don't want to lose the ballot and end up without a ticket, is that possible?) and I "win" all of them, would I be required to pay for all of them, or can I just choose one and discard the others?

Yeah I didn't know such a system exists in Japan , only they can implement something like this

It's hard to say but if you ballot only for 1 ticket , your chances of winning it might be higher as compared if you ballot the maximum no. of tickets

Reason why is because the organisers have to fill in those odd seats here & there inside the venue as compared to someone else who utilise the maximum no. of ticket balloting

It's generally assumed that if you win a ticket balloting , you have to fulfil it . I don't know if the websites will allow you to forfeit but ideal it's best not to if not you will get blacklisted by them for future ticket balloting

thank you Karen for your advice! will treasure it.
Hope i can get my tickets!

You're welcome , I'm crossing my fingers for you that you will be able to attend as many concerts as possible when you're in Japan

^ thank you!!!
Can I ask another question? I don't want to open another thread.
I'm trying to ballot for a ticket through eplus, that's the system the artist uses. I'm trying to make an account in order to do so, but it requires a mobile phone number and an address.
Of course it doesn't take my Italian number... and I imagine my Italian address won't do either. I don't yet know the address for my house in Japan, and I won't have a local number. How do I register myself successfully?

For e+ , you need a Japanese phone number & mailing address unfortunately . I think their balloting rules changed or something I'm not sure

My sister balloted tickets via e+ that's why I know . She knows a few people living in Japan & 1 of them allowed my sister to use her particulars

In this case whether you like it or not , you have to wait until you're physically in Japan then you can register cos e+ don't accept international addresses & phone numbers sadly :x

However if you're unable to wait prior to arriving in Japan , another alternative is you can request my middleman to help you

http://japanauction.byethost11.com/

His name is Kairai and he resides in Hokkaido . His commission charges are quite steep as he doesn't live in Tokyo but I have used his services for a long time & he's reliable

Kairai has been handling my BREAKERZ fanclub related matters since 2011

You can send Kairai an email and said you're my friend & that I recommend him to you . His English is ok for a Japanese but of course if you can type in Japanese to him that's even better

Kairai handles everything on his own and if you want the best seats in a concert , he can try his best to ballot for you on your behalf

Also before I forget , Kairai accepts a wide range of payment methods but all the while I pay him via PayPal

^ thank you very much Karen, I think I will contact him then as the ballot will close before I am in Japan so I don't want to miss my chance!!!! you are a well of info <3

Hey Karen, so I used your middleman to get my tickets and everything went fine, seems like I won the ballot! ^^ thank you very much for your help!
Still, he only asked me to pay him via paypal the price of the ticket to apply... he didn't ask me about any fee, nor did he mention any. I guess I have to pay him something, but does he expect I do without telling me? lol
How do you usually do?

Oh wow that's great to know so , congrats !

What Kairai usually do is he will send me a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet where he will break down the individual costs , from his commission charge to shipping fee & etc separately

Maybe you should request him to do that ? I think he didn't do it for you

^ yeah because basically I dont need them to be shipped etc, so maybe that's why he didn't do it? I will wait a couple days to see if he lets me know anything ^^

Ah ok so the tickets you requested Kairai to ballot for you are digital tickets ?

Yeah see what Kairai says when he reply back to you

^ no actually i dont think they are digital tickets, but they can be retrieved from konbinis from April, and that's when I'll be in Japan, so I told him that I didn't need them shipped as I will get them directly by myself

Ah ok so you only requested Kairai to help you ballot for the tickets ?

Yeah you can go to the conbini to get the tickets printed . You have to pay a fee to the counter staff prior to them helping you to print the tickets on your behalf

My sister who recently went back Japan did that too

Yeah exactly, just because I couldn't do it myself as I don't have a Japanese phone number çç So he did that on my behalf. Maybe he didn't ask for a fee because of this? seems strange tho lol.
I didn't know about the fee to print the tickets! I just figured there was some sort of machine, I read something like this on the site (just works for the family mart tho, for the seven eleven it does say you have to ask at the register to an employee)

Oh maybe Kairai just provides his phone number so that you're able to get hold of the ticket , it's odd but I think he will charge you a fee if you request him to go to the conbini to print the concert ticket(s)

You might find this link useful - https://www.japanconcerttickets.com/...japan/#conbini