I will share a bit of my (limited) experience attending Japanese Concerts and will cover the following parts:

1. Scrambling for Tickets
2. Event Venue – Merch, Fans, Activities, Entry Procedures
3. The Concert – Etiquette and How to Prepare
4. After Parties / Afterglow

Part 1 – Scrambling for Tickets How I purchased Japanese Concert Tickets

TL;DR – Learnt how ticketing system works in Japan, got a Japanese friend who was able to buy on my behalf and accompanied me to watch the concert together. Also took some risk to get tickets to watch for an extra session. Lastly, the preparation afterwards to allow me to apply for tickets myself for the next time.

 “NOT PREPARED!” – That is the only way I would describe how I felt when the news for the LiSA LANDER concert tour dates news were announced in January 2023. To be honest, at the time, I had never attended any concerts in Japan before, nor did I know anyone who was familiar with the process.

The LANDER concert tour was scheduled during fall/winter of 2023 and of course was only nationwide in Japan. As a new fan (story of how I became a fan next time), I really wanted to go no matter what. So, I set out to find out how I could go. (Note that the DVD/Blu Ray of the whole concert just released in Sept 2024 and is now available for purchase online. Do check it out if you like LiSA since it was really a brilliant show) (Amazon / CDJapan) (#Ad)

Putting aside work commitments and air tickets / hotels costs first, I had to climb the learning curve of how to buy a Japanese concert ticket.

For those that are not aware, Japanese concert tickets tend to operate on a balloting system. In my opinion, it is a fairer system compared to most overseas ticket sales methods of first-come-first-served which nowadays is dominated by bots / scalpers. However, it also poses a problem for most non-residents of Japan since usually it requires a Japanese phone number to register for the app.

As I was not in Japan, I did not have the means to get a Japanese phone number (or so I thought at the time), and so I could not register for the ticketing app and hence couldn’t apply for the tickets myself. In addition, I learnt that somehow the Fan Club advance tickets were being sold as “smart tickets” which meant that it was less likely that I could just buy it off someone online since it would be tied to the account that bought it. So, even though I was already a LiSA fan club member, but without the ticketing app, I thought all hope was lost.

Method 1: 連番 (Renban)

Until… I saw that one of the concert tour venues was in Osaka where my good friend lives. I gingerly asked my friend, who is NOT a LiSA fan, if it would be possible for him to join the LiSA fan club, purchase 2 tickets, and accompany me to watch the concert. It was a big ask since he is a busy man that often needs to fly out of the country, but luckily he agreed. As such, in the end, I managed to fly to Japan in December 2023 and watched the LANDER concert in Osaka. Do note that since the ticket couldn’t be transferred since I didn’t have the app, so I had to enter the venue together with my friend (as his “consecutive number ticket” or renban). Note that this method only works basically if you already have a friend in Japan.

End of story? Nope. Well, the concert tickets my friend helped me buy was for 2^nd December, but there was one more show on 1^st December too. “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could watch it too?”, I thought. Humans are greedy after all and since I was already in Japan, I might as well see how else I can find my way in.

Method 2: Buying Paper Tickets from Others

After a whole year of talking about the concert, from January 2023 until December 2023, luckily I also met more fellow LiSA fans who were more knowledgeable about this whole process or had better connections. Apparently, somehow there was a way that I could have opted for non-Smart Tickets and hence my friend could have bought just one ticket for me and didn’t need to tag along with me. I swear the option wasn’t there when I looked, but then again, it could have been me somehow misinterpreting the Japanese site at the time. So, it seems that there were paper tickets available for purchase from others. I am extremely against scalpers so if it was a scalper trying to profit from LiSA tickets, I wouldn’t buy it. However, it was a trusted contact from one of my fellow LiSA fans and they sold it at cost price, so I proceeded and managed to watch the concert on 1^st December too.

I must point out that all purchases from unofficial sources has its inherent risk and in fact, one of my friends was scammed right in front of me on 2^nd December when they tried to buy a ticket from a random internet twitter seller when money was transferred but the seller didn’t turn up. There are terrible people everywhere so do be careful and this method should be treated as a last resort.

Method 3: Online Resell Platforms

Similar to Method 2, I personally feel that this has its risk. I will not name the platforms that resell tickets since some tend to price gorge and sell at much higher prices than the original cost for popular events. Just briefly mentioning it in case people say that I didn’t know this method. Both Methods 2 and 3 also carries the risk of being denied entry if they checked the name of the ticket against your ID proof.

Going Forward / Preparing for Future:

• Applied for a Japanese SIM Card while I was in Japan and got it activated
• Registered for the various ticket apps & ready for applying tickets for future concerts
• Check out the next post for How to obtain Japan Phone Numbers and Ticket Platform Registration
• Check out the next post for Methods of Ticket Payment

You can read more about the Concert Event Venue in Part 2 or Concert Etiquette