How does one behave inside a Japanese concert venue? Is it the same as any other country? Disclaimer that my total number of Japanese concerts attended is only four (LANDER Osaka Day 1, LANDER Osaka Day 2, iSCREAM Day 1, iSCREAM Day 2), of which two were repeated venues and all from the same artiste (LiSA), so the below is definitely not the only interpretation. However, I do generally talk with people who attend many other Japanese concerts and I will try to include their insights inside as well to give a more complete picture. Do feel free to highlight any mistakes or give additional information in the comments section.

General Rules:

• No Photography / No Videography: I guess one key difference is that most venues expect you to abide by this rule for the whole duration of the event. Why I highlight this as the first point is that breaking this rule is severely frowned upon in Japan and for certain venues, you could even be directly removed from the venue or other fans might take matters into their own hands to uphold the rule. This is both to respect the performing artiste and also to prevent piracy which makes sense. There are of course exceptions depending on the artiste, but in general, in Japan just assume that it is not allowed unless the artiste themselves inform you to take photos (for example, during LiSA’s Asia Tour, she allowed taking of videos during her Gurenge 紅蓮華 performance). After the concert is generally fine, and people often take commemorative photos of themselves in the venue with the stage backdrop

• No Singing Aloud: I gather that generally the audience should not be singing aloud as it will disturb other attendees. However, for certain songs, there might be specific calls or audience participation that is expected and practised by the fans. You will immediately know once you experience the whole arena shouting out the specific call / phrase at the same point of the song. To be honest, the calls/shouts in unison are a lot of fun. Sometimes, the singer might also ask the audience to sing-along 歌って (utatte) too

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• Standing or Sitting: This depends on the singer and venue (and even the seat you selected). However, a significantly high percentage of concerts would allow standing even if you have an assigned seat and most attendees would stand throughout. They might not be dancing, but definitely standing (maybe jumping) and waving their penlights/glowsticks and doing hand motions in line with the song.
  • 指定席 (Reserved Seat) – means a specific seat is assigned and you can sit there or stand there as you please
  • 着席指定席 (Seated Reserved Seat) – means you have to stay seated throughout. This could be due to the reason that the area is assigned for elderly/children who cannot keep standing or it might be due to safety/access considerations
  • 注釈付き指定席 (Annotated Reserved Seat) – usually means the seat has restricted views
  • スタンディング (Standing) – no seats are assigned (and usually no assigned space either) which often means you need to arrive early if you want to be at the front. I have seen some music festivals that people posted that there was assigned standing space, but I am not sure how much people keep to their area once the performance starts because these standing places might sometimes end up being for crowd surfing / moshing etc. I would suggest that if you book such tickets, do ask around the fanbase on what to expect first in case you are in for a shock

• Penlights and UO – do check the rules stated in the tickets since some venues or some organisers might restrict the type of penlight to use or limit to only the official ones. So far, LiSA concerts didn’t have such restrictions. The only common sense thing is not to use something that is so huge that it blocks other’s views or likely to hit others.

Hope that generally answers your questions about what happens within the concert venue. There are always exceptions, so do read the rules of your tickets. Is it totally different for artists like Ado, YOASOBI, MGA or even idol groups etc? Do share with me in the comments below. Hope you will have a fun time at any concert.

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