Getting a ticket to a J-Pop musical in Tokyo

July 2, 2007 5:00 PM

How can I get tickets to see a particular theater show in Tokyo?

Okay, I know this makes me hontoni hentai, but...

I'm planning a trip to Japan in September. My dates are currently flexible. While I'm there, I really want to see the Johnny's Jimusho J-Pop musical Dream Boys at the Imperial Garden Theater. (Hazukashii!)

How can I get a ticket?
- Is it possible to buy them in advance from the USA?
- Are they available to the public in general, or only fan club members?
- Would things like this be available on the Japanese equivalent of eBay or Craigslist?
- Or do I have to find someone in Japan who'll do the dirty work for me?
- Should I wait till I get there and then try my luck?

I don't read kanji so I haven't been able to figure out what my options are.

posted by xo to Travel & Transportation around Tokyo, Japan (2 answers total)

Can you speak Japanese? If so, they have a telephone ticket purchasing window at TohoStage, which is the company that manages these performances. Their phone number is [phone]. They're open 09:30 to 17:30 JST (it doesn't say if it's weekday only or weekends as well). It involves registration, which is free, but maybe a pain in the butt. You can then make your ticket reservation, and you have three options for how to pay for the ticket: 7-11 (almost certainly only 7-11s in Japan), COD (certainly only in Japan), or at the theater itself. That seems optimal, but it doesn't say on their homepage if that has to be in advance, or if you can make your reservation now but pay for the ticket and pick it up on the day of the performance.

There may be online tickets available, but not directly from TohoStage, because their internet purchasing system doesn't start until October.

Their page doesn't indicate whether it's open to the public or only for fan club members. In fact, it doesn't say much at all about the performance, besides "Details coming soon!".

If you do try to make your reservations by phone, I recommend you pretend you're in Japan. Otherwise they'll probably turn you down on principal because the person at the phone line won't know if international orders are possible, and when in doubt, they'll probably say that it isn't possible.
posted by Bugbread at 5:53 AM on July 3, 2007

Okay, so I just called a friend who is a Kinki Kids fan and asked her how these things work. Please note that her information is about Johnny's concerts in general and not about this musical in particular. Although bugbread's information above is probably your best bet at this point, I'll write down my friend's answer to your questions anyway:

- Is it possible to buy them in advance from the USA?

No.

- Are they available to the public in general, or only fan club members?

Not yet. But when (if?) they do go on sale, they will most likely sell out in a matter of seconds.

- Would things like this be available on the Japanese equivalent of eBay or Craigslist?

Perhaps. You could search through the auctions on Yahoo Japan at a later date. Also, my friend recommended you check out a place called Daikokuya in Shinbashi, Tokyo (New Shinbashi Building 1st floor, 2-16-1 Shinbashi, Minato-ku, phone [phone]) which is a ticket reseller (kinken shoppu). Apparently this place is famous among Johnny's fans for reselling tickets to some pretty hard-to-get concerts. I know you don't read kanji, but I'll link a list of kinken shoppu anyway.

- Or do I have to find someone in Japan who'll do the dirty work for me?

That someone in Japan will probably only have the same amount of luck as you do for getting a hold of these tickets, unless he/she belongs to the Johnny's fanclub.

- Should I wait till I get there and then try my luck?

Sure, why not? Some of the tickets, unless you're hoping to get in on a weekend or the final day, will surely be resold somewhere, if you're willing to pay the extra cash for them.

I don't know if any of this will help you in any way, but good luck.
posted by misozaki at 7:25 AM on July 3, 2007