[Tutorial] How to obtain Ayu concert tickets - Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai
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Old 5th May 2006, 03:41 AM
immel's Avatar
immel immel is offline
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[Tutorial] "How I made it to Tokyo and Arena Tour 2006" [Updated: 08.07.06]

This post is NOT to be posted ANYWHERE else without my agreement. Thank you.

The title is updated with the latest date of any update I make to this post.

Contents of this post:
-Introduction of me and my trip to Tokyo.
Guide on how I did it.
-On cellphones! (quote)
-How to get flight tickets?
-How to get concert tickets?
--How to get the tickets before you arrive in Tokyo.
--How to get the tickets when you are in Tokyo.
---Price examples and seating references
-Where to stay?
-How much did I spend?
-Arena Tour 2006 dates.
-Links to other relevant threads.
-Pictures by me and other users.
-Google Earth Locations.


Let me first tell you a little story about how I got into Ayu, I feel that is a good way to start this thread. The actual tutorial is further down, what you can read here first is my introduction to how this trip came to being, I would be very happy if you spent time reading it too. Thank you!

I am 18 years old and from Sweden, Stockholm. My name is Martin.

5 years ago a good friend to me showed me the video of Ayu and Gack performing Silent Night together. We laughed at it, and that was it. It was the first time ever I saw or heard of Ayumi. Since about that time I've had a general interest in the Asian culture.

I have always been addicted to music, all kinds of music. After having known about Ayu for 5 years I, 3 months ago, decided that maybe I should actually listen to some of her music. Why hadn't I done so before? I had earlier automatically put her in the same category as artists like Britney Spears and such, guess if I regret that now.

The first song I listened to was evolution.

During the following few days my life sort of made a U-turn. I know I'm not, but today I really feel like and old fan of Ayu. I've seen, listened and read up on everything. I guess I'm sort of obsessed but not in an all too exaggerated way, I'm still a normal person .

I could keep on writing about this forever, this is an extremely short version of how I came into Ayu. But that isn't what you came here to read about, so, after this introduction, let's move on. (I'm still only at the stage of introducing the whole thing, if you only want to read the actual tutorial do so at the bottom of this post).

Around two months ago was the first time I heard about Arena Tour 2006, at that time it was around 1 month left untill it would start. Ofcourse the thought It'd be so cool going there! hit me, but it was nothing more than a thought.

A week later I accidentaly read about someone from Australia who had won two tickets for the tour. That brought back my old thought, but stronger, I really wanted to go aswell. I started researching on how much going to, and staying in, Tokyo would cost, mostly because I wanted to know, I still did not have any real plans on going. I spent one month just looking things up, through the Internet. My mom thought I was funny with all my talk about going to Tokyo.

I started realising this dream was actually possible to fullfill, now it wasn't only about going to see Ayu live, I became obsessed with the idea of going to Tokyo, alone, at the age of 18. I wanted to feel free, I wanted to see if I could really do this on my own.

The days passed and I kept up my research, my parents was first against the idea, as I would be using all my money I had saved up for the trip. The days passed, the first performances at the Saitama Arena came and went. Then it happened... SunshineSlayer posted her review of the concert. That was the final blow, I had to go to Tokyo. My parents still wouldn't allow me to, but they became fascinated with my persistence and that I kept up with my research even though they had already said no.

I contacted a friend, because I was actually a bit worried about travelling all alone. He was unsure on if he wanted to go or not.

Then, one thursday morning, 20 days or so before the performances in Yoyogi I told my parents; I'm ordering tickets to Tokyo now, I'll be leaving in 7 days. I was quite surprised when their reply was Oh, okay. I guess they had gotten used to the idea over time and didn't have the heart to stop me when I had put down so much work at planning this. My friend hooked on the last second and we went together. I sort of wanted to go alone so what we did was more or less to split up when we arrived and spent most of our time trying to get lost in Tokyo on our own, but what I did while I was in Tokyo is another story, now lets go on to the the actual HOW TO... part.


HOW TO MAKE IT TO TOKYO, SEEING AYUMI HAMASAKI LIVE AND GETTING BACK IN ONE PIECE :

Use www.xe.com to translate the numbers into any currency you like.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mercuryspice
on the cell phone thing... almost all phone made today have 3 gms signals (or called TriBand phones).. and you can buy unlocked versions of almost any phone. An unlocked phone means it has 4 gms (or QuadBand) signals and can be used on any cell phone service worldwide. I have the Motorola RAZR, it has 3 gms signals, and can be used worldwide. It is called a world capable phone. You will have to call your service provider to find out their international rates for the country you are going to. I have Cingular Wireless and they charge $1.25 for any out going call I make while in Japan. The rates for incoming calls are the same as the American rates. Text messages are .10 cents for incoming and .50 cents for out going while in Japan. I live in America BTW.
With technology now, you can use just about any phone in any country, regardless of where you bought it and live.

Flight Tickets:

This part was simple, there are several pages that compare travelling with different companies. I used www.pricerunner.com. My two-way flight ticket to Tokyo, Narita from Stockholm, Arlanda cost me 750€. I flew with British Airways they were, I guess still are, the cheapest company to fly with, by far. Also they have a good standard, I enjoyed the food, especially the cup noodles .

Edit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer
Just want to interject here, that if you live in a city with a large Asian population there should be at least one Asian travel agency. They will have the cheapest rates to Japan. I can't remember the exact price of my ticket, but it was less than $650 roundtrip.
Concert Tickets:

I got one of my tickets before I went to Tokyo, for the performance at the 22/4. I knew the location of one ticket re-seller store before I went, I decided I would get the 23/4 ticket when I arrived there.

I've written some on this before so I will copy a lot of that to here, also I will use/quote/link to the guide that SunshineSlayer wrote.

Don't do the same mistake as me, I got my ticket before I went to Tokyo. I did so because I wanted to have them in my hand before I actually went. It's a total waste of cash. I have included a guide on how to get the tickets before you go to Tokyo anyway.

How to get the tickets before you arrive in Tokyo:

www.fdjp.com. From here I got my tickets for the first performance. I bought front row of block B1 tickets, they were 26000 yen each. FDJP charges an additional 30% for handling etc. They ship via EMS parcel so the order should reach you within 4 to 5 days no matter where in the world you live. Recently they (fdjp) started handling auctions that only ship inside Japan too, letting you tell them what to bid on then shipping it to you for an additional fee.

http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp. One of Japans biggest auction pages, lots of concert tickets up here. See the next entry for more information.

www.akibado.com. A page through which you can bid on Japanese auction pages, such as http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp. Akibado charge some extra and then ship it home to you. I don't know how much they charge, I've never used them.

Having a friend in Japan. You could ask this friend to go to a ticket re-seller store and buy tickets for you, which he could either mail or hand over to you when you arrive. Possibly you could have this friend call and buy tickets on the official release date. Maybe you could even join Team Ayu through him/her and pre-order tickets through there. Next year I will have contacts in Japan that can join Team Ayu for me, I'm looking forward so much to that .

How to get tickets when you arrive in Tokyo:

Ok, SunshineSlayer has already covered this very good in the How to get Ayumi Hamasaki concert tickets thread thread page 2, I will quote what she wrote to here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer
Ok, how you get concert tickets: (many of these have already been mentioned here)

1. The official way - Just forget it, it ain't gonna happen if you aren't living in Japan and you likely will not be able to get the very best seats because they all go to fan club members and foreigners can not join the fanclub. So just resign yourself to that.

4. THE BEST way to get tickets is to not get them until you are actually in Japan. It sounds very risky, I know. If you are flying to Japan and getting a hotel room and spending all that money just to see Ayu live, you would generally like to have the tickets first so that you know for sure you are going. But trust me that this way is the easiest, least confusing, and ultimately cheapest way to go.

If your concert is in Tokyo or the surrounding area (Yokohama, Saitama, Chiba, Tochigi etc) what you want to do is go to a ticket reseller shop in Harajuku. It's very easy to find since it is on the famous Takashita Dori st.(famous for its crepes, fasion, and idol shops.) On the Tokyo Metro system, take the green Chiyoda line to the Meiji-Jingumae stop. Exit the station and you should see a big store across the street called Snoopy Town.(this is a cool place to check out since it has more Snoopy merchandise than anywhere in the US.^_^) Cross the street to Snoopy Town and then continue down the sidewalk to the left. Soon you will see Takashita Dori on the right. (You really can't miss it, there is a big archway over the start of the street that says Takashita Dori) It's a narrow crowded street filled with Idol shops that sell every photo, key chain, pen etc with Ayumi, Gackt, MM, L'arc and zillions of boy bands on them - Don't spend all of your money before you get to the Ayumi tickets! lol. About 3/4s of the way down the street there will be a lingerie store called LOVX on your left.(don't confuse it with the LOVX building that will be on your right about 1/2 way down the street. That store just sells cosmetics.) There are a set of stairs in front that lead up to the second level of the LOVX building and inside of there is concert ticket mecca. They have tickets for sale for every major concert tour currently going on as well as sell tour goods from past tours, all in glass displays, so you can easily pick out what you want. Best of all, the prices are reasonable. I actually paid less at that shop for Ayu tickets than I did through Yahoo!Auctions and the seats were comprable. Also, as the concert gets closer they will seriously mark down tickets that haven't sold yet. I saw one 400 level ticket that they had for the Saitama show which hadn't sold yet(the concert was the next day) and they were selling it for 3000 yen! Pretty amazing considering that the ticket originally cost 7,800. They have tickets for all over Japan, but obviously the area they are the most well stocked for is the Tokyo area.

Much Japanese isn't required to buy the tickets. You can simply point to the one you want and they'll get what you mean. Of course speaking at least some Japanese is helpful, but you should be able to get by mainly on gestures and their limited English ability.

So if you want to go to a concert in or around Tokyo all you need to be thinking about is that shop in Harajuku. It's easily the best option.

5. The last option are scalpers. Your likely to pay more, but usually they are better seats. For example, I had 2 tickets for the Sun. Saitama performance - both were for the 400 level(far back from the stage). So I found a scalper and traded my 2 400 level tickets for 1 200 level ticket + I had to pay 3000 yen. You generally don't have to try and spot the scalpers. If your concert is one of the main ones(like Saitama, Yoyogi, Osaka) they will be waiting to pounce on you just as you leave the train station. Authorities must not care about scalpers because they do it wide out in the open and very obviously. It's worth noting though that I didn't see any scalpers at the Hiroshima show last year. However, they were all over the Saitama show this year. For this option it's good to at least know how to count in Japanese and know what 'man' and 'sen' yen mean, that way you can bargain with them. As I found out, this is also an excellent option if you already have your tickets but want a better seat.
It should be mentioned that I did not see any scalper present at any of the performances at the Yoyogi Stadium at the 4/22 or 4/23.

This was posted by oro77, who went to one of the last performances in June and planned to go to the absolute last one at 6/11, depending on the price for the tickets:
Quote:
Originally Posted by oro77
The tickets were to expensive, I went to Harajuku in front of the stadium (1 hour before the concert), they told me 20 000 yen for 1 ticket (or 15 000). Maybe they increased the price because I'm gaijin... I asked for 5 000 yen ticket lol.

I wrote this on how to get concert tickets in my Arena Tour 2006 Review thread:

Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
2:
You buy them when you get there, from ticket reseller stores. I knew the location of one before I went to Tokyo, I found 4 other while I was there. You are more or less GUARANTEED to get a ticket, even if you buy them the same day as the concert is. I arrived 2 weeks before the concert and bought the tickets a few days before them. You can use FDJP if you want the tickets in your hand before you go there. But trust me, get them when you are there, it's the cheapest and you can choose between a lot of different tickets.

3:
Use www.xe.com to translate it into the currency you like.

Concert tickets, front row of block B1: 26000 yen. I bought those before I went to Tokyo. I regret that because I had to pay the extra 30% that FDJP charges. Yes, that means I paid 35000 yen for the ticket. For 35000 yen you can get quite good A-block seats. I belive front row of A-block tickets go for around 50-60000 yen each. I didn't see any A-block tickets while in Tokyo though, either they were all sold out or the reseller stores could not get their hands on any.

Concert tickets, middle of block D4: 10000 yen. (Centre of the arena, almost as far back as you can get).

If you want really good tickets, look for them with seats in block b3, B4 or B5. They are encircling the stage in the middle of the arena, where Ayu run to now and then. That is the closest possible you can get to her during a performance. I had the chance to get B5 tickets at the same price as the B1 ones, not front row. I didn't take it because I thought B1 front row would be better.

How much does concert tickets cost from the re-sellers?

Reference Picture 1. Thank you soysaucestar.
Reference Picture 2
The set up in Arena Tour 2005/2006 is not exactly the same as in the pictures, there is a center stage aswell.

These are all examples for differently priced tickets I saw while I was in Tokyo at various re-seller stores:

Arena (central floor):
A-block front row tickets: 75000 yen +/- 15000 yen. (I didn't actually see any A-block tickets for sale while in Tokyo, but this is a qualified guess after looking at other artists, with similar pricing at their tickets, where those seats existed).
A-block tickets: 30-35000 yen.
B-block tickets: 20-26000 yen.
C-block tickets: 13-20000 yen.
D-block tickets: 10-15000 yen.

Elevated positions:
K1 front row tickets: 30-40000 yen.
Really Bad tickets: 6-7000 yen. (yes, lower than the original price).

If the re-seller stores has tickets left the same day as the performance the prices of them will be reduced drastically.

Images of lined up tickets (taken by me):
Takeshita Street (Harajuku).
Somewhere in Shibuya.
Ueno.

Where to stay?

This was my biggest problem at first, I found it very hard to find a place to stay for a decent price per night. I didn't want to stay at a hotel in central Tokyo for 120$/night.

My saviour became http://www.hihostels.com/openHome.do. Youth Hostels are cheap, functional places to stay. You can read more about it on the page.

If you plan to stay at a Youth Hostel you do in many cases need a IYHA (International Youth Hostel Association) membership card, more info on how to obtain one here. Having this card makes it possible to stay at more places and much cheaper to stay at many places.

If you are going to a performance in Tokyo, Yoyogi, I can recommend Yoyogi Youth Hostel. It's located a cosy 10-15 minute walk, through Yoyogi Kouen, from Harajuku/Shibuya and the Yoyogi Arena itself. At 3000 yen / night it's a bargain. The staff speaks great english. My room at the YH.

When looking at a YH to stay at, always read all information you can find on their homepage aswell as the hihostels.com homepage because many of them have strict rules that you have to follow.

Another option is the Capsule Hotels, I had intentionally planned my trip so that for 3 night I would have no where to sleep, I wanted to see if I could solve that on my own when I was in Tokyo. I tried a Capsule Hotel for 2 of the nights, it cost me 3000 yen per night. It was fresh, if only a bit hot in the "sleeping capsule". You'll have access to public shower etc. All Capsule Hotels do not accept female guests. The third night I went back to the YH.

How Much Did I Spend?
Flight: 750€
Hotel: 3000 yen/day (about 280€ for 2 weeks)
Food: 800-2000 yen/day (for 1500 yen/day you can eat like a king) (150€)
Concert Tickets: 35000 yen + 10000 yen (300€)

Total for 2 weeks:
1480€

I shopped up another 1400€ when I was there too.

If all you want to do is see Ayu you can always choose to stay only 1 week instead, that would halve the price for food and hotel. If you live in Europe you could get away with around 1000€ for a week in Tokyo + seeing Ayu live, but then you're doing NO shopping and eating cheap food (the cheap food is the best food in Tokyo ^_^).

Tour Dates:
Quote:
Originally Posted by nmskalmn
ayumi hamasaki ARENA TOUR 2006 A ~(miss)understood~
11 March 2006 - Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Shin-toshin
12 March 2006 - Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Shin-toshin
18 March 2006 - Nagano Big-Hat, Nagano
19 March 2006 - Nagano Big-Hat, Nagano
25 March 2006 - Shizuoka Ecopa Arena, Shizuoka
26 March 2006 - Shizuoka Ecopa Arena, Shizuoka
1 April 2006 - Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka
2 April 2006 - Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka
8 April 2006 - Makomanai Ice Arena, Sapporo
9 April 2006 - Makomanai Ice Arena, Sapporo
13 April 2006 - Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka
15 April 2006 - Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka
16 April 2006 - Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka
22 April 2006 - National Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo
23 April 2006 - National Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo
29 April 2006 - Hiroshima Green Arena, Hiroshima
30 April 2006 - Hiroshima Green Arena, Hiroshima
5 May 2006 - Sun Arena, Ise
6 May 2006 - Sun Arena, Ise
13 May 2005 - Toki Messe, Niigata
14 May 2005 - Toki Messe, Niigata
20 May 2005 - Grande 21, Rifu
21 May 2005 - Grande 21, Rifu
24 May 2005 - Nagoya Rainbow Hall, Nagoya
25 May 2005 - Nagoya Rainbow Hall, Nagoya
31 May 2006 - Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka
1 June 2006 - Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka
8 June 2006 - National Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo
10 June 2006 - National Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo
11 June 2006 - National Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo
Official schedule:


Other relevant discussion threads about going to Japan/Tokyo/Arena Tour:
Coryboborys World Tour 2006: Japan thread
immels How to get around Tokyo? thread (from before I went)
How to get Ayumi Hamasaki concert tickets thread

Other links:
SunshineSlayers Arena Tour 2006 Review
tethevos Arena Tour 2006 Review
immels Arena Tour 2006 Review.
oro77s review, found later in this thread.
immels Arena Tour 2006 Cam Download Thread
Here you can read about bringing a camera inside the arena.


I will edit this post when I remember everything I have left out or if someone ask a question that I haven't answered.

If a thank you is posted in this thread I want to direct it to the people that has helped me realising this dream, anyone answering my questions or writing other guides.

A big THANKS to SunshineSlayer, Corybobory, Jo-chan, tethevo and many other who I can't recall by name/nickname right now!

This summary was brought to you by ^_^.

Thank you very much for spending your time reading this, I really hope it will help someone.
Martin

Will add some pictures here (I think more will come, all taken by me):
Yoyogi National Stadium.
What Tokyo started looking like the last few days before I left (Harajuku JR Station).

Pictures taken by other users who went there:
oro77 went there for the 6/8 performance, thank you for sharing your pictures with us!
Picture of the Stadium.
Tour goods.
Tour goods.
ayupan shop.
Flyer.
Flyer back cover 1.
Flyer back cover 2.
Arena Tour 2006 Fan.


GOOGLE EARTH LOCATIONS:
Yoyogi Kouen (Yoyogi Park).
Yoyogi National Stadium.
Yoyogi Youth Hostel.
Bridge /crossing in Harajuku where all the cosplayers are at Sundays.
Omote Sandou and Aoyama Dori crossing.
Location of ticket reseller store in Ueno. Compare this one with the location of Ueno JR station (the exit is under the bridge).

This is just above Shibuya 109, if you zoom out or scroll down a bit you will see the building a little lower down on your screen, characterized by the circle tower. It might be a little hard to see because the picture is so bad quality, but the re-seller store is on one of the 3 streets on the picture, I don't remember which one when I see it from above.
Ticket re-seller store in Shibuya. Compare this to famous Shibuya crossing and entrance/exit to Shibuya JR Station.

If you want any other locations just ask.







------
[Edited by AHS Staff]
Discussion/Thanks:
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43522
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