You successfully registered for your own Ticket Platform account following our previous post instructions and you were lucky enough to have won the ticket ballot! Now you need to pay for the tickets, but how?
Credit Card
First, let’s get this method out of the way. If you had this method available, you probably would not be reading this page in the first place. If you are lucky enough to have a Japanese Bank issued credit card, then the ticket platforms would accept it and end of story.
ANA Pay / LINE Pay
I believe some of these work, but as of Sep 2024, already heard that there are some upcoming changes that might make these methods not possible soon (some platforms adding requirements to the 3rd party credit card issuers starting Oct 2024 and LINE Pay ending service by April 2025).
As such, unfortunate foreigners not living in Japan, like you and I, are probably only left with…
Convenience Store Payment (Konbini / コンビニ) Method
How this works is basically just go to the convenience store to pay using a code that they issue to you when they notify that you won the ballot. Simple enough? Well… it is the simplest method, but typically they only give you a few days from ballot result to payment deadline. If you cannot pay in Japan at a convenience store before then, your ticket chance will be lost. Usually the ballot results is at least a few weeks to a month before (could even be like half a year before) the actual concert, so it is extremely difficult for you to be in Japan for this.
There are services online that charge you a service fee for paying on your behalf, but I must remind on the possible risks:
- Scammer take your money and run, or
- Scammer actually pay for the ticket, even send you a photo of the receipt with the claim code, BUT near the date of the concert, they print the ticket out for themselves before you could print it
For risk number 2, if you selected smart ticket (スマチケ), then this risk can be avoided, since once they paid for you, then the ticket cannot be printed out and will only appear in your app.
For risk number 1, regardless of what ticket type you selected, the risk is still present, so you need to select who to trust carefully. Personally, I am really lucky and thankful to have some Japanese friends in Japan who helped me pay for my tickets whenever I needed help. Upon my request, they even helped some fellow LiSA fans from the r/LiSA discord, of which I am a moderator, to pay for tickets as well, and the fans managed to watch the concert in Osaka on 14th and 15th September 2024 successfully.
Things to take note:
- You don’t need to get the actual receipt after payment. Just need the code.
- Make sure you don’t lose the photo of the code since you shouldn’t expect the person paying for you to keep the receipt for half a year.
How to print:
If you see the receipts above, you can see that the window to allow printing is only 1 or 2 days before the event starts. During that period, you can go to the convenience store chain allowed during your ticket purchase (e.g. Lawsons, Family Mart, 7-Eleven) and just enter the code into the machine located inside the store. If you really get stuck, just try to find the staff when they look less busy and show them the photo and they should be able to help you when they are less busy. Please be patient though if they are the only staff there since we are asking for help and they could be very busy. (I can read some Japanese so I didn’t notice if English is available on the machine but next time I go to Japan I can check and update here).
Incidentally, you will normally only get to know your allocated seat at that time. Adds to the excitement, right? (I sincerely pray that I can get a seat close to the stage this coming December!!)
That’s all there is to completing the payment for your tickets. Wishing you good luck finding someone you can trust and happens to be in Japan during the few days of payment deadline.
Click these links to to find out what happens outside the concert venue or Japan concert etiquette