Visiting a concert in japan

Question

This summer I and a couple of friends will travel to Japan for three weeks, we will stay one week in Kyoto and the other two in Tokyo. When staying in Tokyo we want to visit a concert by LiSA at Nakano Sun Plaza Hall. I've managed to find the date and place of the concert via the official website and Google translate. A ticket seller named Disk Garage is mentioned, so I looked up the concert there too and found it. Now i can see the date, location and price of the tickets, but I'm still not sure where or how exactly I book the tickets, since the Google-translated version of the site doesn't seem to contain a proper translation on how to get the tickets. If it is relevant, I'm from Germany.

So my question is: "Where and how can i buy tickets for the concert mentioned above?"

Answer 1

TL;DR: If you enter a fan club/general "raffle" (抽選):

1. you enter the raffle;
2. you get notified if you're successful;
3. if you're successful, have a friend pay at a FamilyMart;
4. pick up your tickets at a FamilyMart when you arrive in Japan.

If you buy a general sales (一般発売) ticket:

1. you go to eplus and buy your ticket;
2. you pay with a JCB card or have a friend pay at a FamilyMart;
3. you pick up your tickets at a FamilyMart.

Being a big fan of Japanese music, I have been to a number of concerts in Japan. Here are some of my observations and experiences.

It's very hard to purchase tickets from abroad, unless the relevant parties consciously make it easy for people from abroad. Of the major ticketing websites (l-tike, eplus, pia and Rakuten Tickets, perhaps also Line Tickets these days), only Rakuten supports users from abroad reliably (since you can pay with international credit cards). l-tike even go as far as blocking overseas IP addresses.

It seems that tickets for the Nakano Sun Plaza show is not on sale yet, so take a deep breath. There's a fan club pre-sale, which will allow you to claim your ticket earlier and get you some better tickets, but you need to join the fan club to enter the raffle. If you want a good seat, consider that.

Almost all Japanese artists do a "raffle" before general sale. Some do two: one for fan club members, and one for non-members. If you do join the fan club (=FC), you'll login to your FC account, click on a link, and then enter the raffle through eplus. Keep in mind that joining the FC will cost you money too, usually 2,000-5,000 yen. After a few days, you'll be notified if you have been selected (当選) or not (落選). Depending on the artist, the selectivity can vary greatly: but my guess is that LiSA concerts are not extremely popular, so there's a decent chance to get selected. Remember to select the option to claim your ticket at a convenience store; this will save you so much hassle. The preferred convenience store chain of eplus is FamilyMart, BTW.

In some cases, FC tickets have printed names to prevent unauthorized resale. However, this happens almost only when the artist is immensely popular (think Perfume, Nogizaka46, EXILE, etc.), so I don't think this is likely. But if that is the case, you'd need to bring your passport to the concert.

After you get selected, you will have a few days to pay. However, AFAIK, eplus rejects foreign credit cards (except perhaps JCB cards), so if you don't have a JCB card, you'll need to have a friend pay for you at a FamilyMart in cash. If you don't pay in time, your ticket will be cancelled. I suggest don't even try using your card, unless you can confirm it would work otherwise. If you use a credit card and the payment doesn't go through, usually your ticket is cancelled right away, so do not risk that.

Then, when you arrive in Japan, go to any FamilyMart and claim your ticket at the FamiPort (ファミポート) terminal in the store. You'd need to type in the code sent to you via email, print the receipt, and give it to the cashier. The cashier will then print the ticket for you, and you're good to go. But IIRC the FamiPort terminal interface is Japanese only, so you'd need to be able to read that, or have someone help you with that.

Alternatively, if you don't want to enter the raffle, you can almost always buy a general sales ticket. Just go to the same website (eplus) and pay with a JCB card/have a friend pay, and then claim your ticket at a FamilyMart. Exactly the same process.

If you're confident, you can wait until you get to Japan and purchase the ticket at a FamilyMart. All FamiPort terminals are connected to eplus, so you can buy your ticket at one of those terminals and pay at the cashier. eplus shuts down online sales around 24-48 hours before the event, so going to a FamilyMart is the only way you'd get a ticket that late.

A reminder: the layout of Nakano Sun Plaza Hall makes it a bit hard to see clearly in the back, so getting a FC ticket might be worth it. If you don't care too much, I think it's likely you'd be able to get a ticket even after you arrive in Japan.

If you do this more than a few times and are sick of going to a convenience store every time, consider getting yourself a LINE prepaid JCB card. This can be recharged at Seven Bank ATMs and used just like any other JCB card.

Answer 2

SHORT ANSWER
Without help from a friend in Japan or using a proxy, it will be difficult to get concert tickets, which are hard enough to get in Japan.

LONG ANSWER
Currently, there are no general sales tickets available, and they have yet to announce the date.

On the site you posted, the following was posted along with the concert schedule:

※本日0時より、オフィシャルファンクラブFC「リサラボっ。」にて先行チケット申し込みを開始します。 受付期間：2019/4/7（日） 0:00 ～ 2019/4/21（日） 23:59（抽選）
Translation: Advance sales raffle applications for are accepted through the official fan club from 4/7-4/21

It is expected that they will announce the general sales date after the results of the fan club raffle. Some events announce all the dates at the start, some (like this one) announce only after the last wave of sales is done. The official fan site lists the result period as 4/27-5/1, and at the same time I assume information about general sales will be announced as well.

Some things you should know:

1) Raffle
By the looks of it, I'm sure the general sales will also be a raffle. This is common in Japan for popular events. This means that you will not be guaranteed a ticket until late in your planning, so I suggest starting making alternate plans if this falls through. Depending on the concert, there are also "Live Viewings", where the concert is satellite broadcasted to select movie theaters. I couldn't find any information regarding that for this concert, but sometimes live viewings are announced fairly late. Also there are slim chances of onsite tickets, but looking at the size of the venue, it seems unlikely.

2) Accounts
They are using e+ for the fan club tickets, so I am assuming the same for general sales. You will need an e+ account, which means you need a Japanese phone number to verify the account. You will need to ask a friend in Japan, or use a proxy service to help you buy the tickets (never used any before, so I can't attest to their trustworthiness).

3) Payment
If you do manage to create a valid account with a friend's help, note that you have to have more help when paying. Many ticket sites, including e+, do not accept foreign credit cards. The best way is to have a friend pay through the convenience store (e+ usually offers 7-11 or Family Mart), with a nominal transaction fee. Note that payment option MUST be selected when initially submitting, which means making the wrong choice (i.e., credit card) will result in forfeiting the ticket. And make sure to check the results of the raffle promptly, as the payment window for concert tickets is usually short (3-5 days).
It would also be a good idea to choose to receive the tickets at the convenience store as well, so you can just pick it up when you arrive (usually you can print 1-2 weeks ahead of the event).

4) Number of Tickets
You are limited in the amount of tickets you can purchase. Considering the concert is in Tokyo and at a smaller venue, you will most likely only be limited to 2 tickets. If you need more, your friends will have to apply as well.

5) Name
Your name is printed on the tickets. If you do get the tickets, remember to bring your passport. The operators may or may not choose to check ID, but there's no point risking it. So whether making an e+ account or using a proxy, make sure your real name (preferably exactly your passport) is used. Also another reason against buying scalped tickets, unless the ticket holder is going in with you.

HOW TO APPLY
I haven't really shown how to apply for the tickets. So let's assume you have a legit account and that it's on e+. It's going to require a lot of Japanese navigating, and you have a limited time before the site times out and you'll have to start from the beginning.

1) Information
I'm assuming you have made it to the e+ page for the Lisa concert of choice. From there, you will select the basic information of the concert: 公開日時 (concert time), 席種 (seat type), and 枚数 (amount of tickets). A lot of concerts will only have one concert time, though smaller ones will have two in one day, and you'll usually pick which one here. For seat types, again, usually it's only one type. Some have premier seat, and some have standing-only seats. Once you're done click on ログイン to go to the login screen. Make sure to get the password right, as three fails will lock your account for a while.

2) Receiving and Payment
Next screen will be about receiving and payment, in that order. 受取方法 is the "Method of Receiving" section and "支払方法" is the "Method of Payment" section. Note that the choices available vary from event to event.

3) Final Confirmation
This is the confirmation screen. If everything is well, press the pink button 同意して購入. Note that some events require you to check waiver clause first, usually pretty close above the button.

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Note there are a few guides out there on the internet that provide some useful information. I found this one or this one after a quick google search.

Answer 3

With a bit of random clicking around, I found this site https://eplus.jp/sf/live/lisasp

However, googletranslate suggests that it might be sold out, and that's a resale site. To find that page, starting from your Disk Garage page, I clicked on

1. 未定 at bottom
2. purple button on end of row
3. e+(イープラス)

BTW, we have a Japanese learners stack; they might be able to help ( https://japanese.stackexchange.com/ )