Welcome to Part 3 of the EXO-L guide to the Tottori adventure! Check out the previous guides below
This blog post is based on my own adventure but wouldn’t be possible without this guide shared by @onlaymon. For faster reference during your trip download the guide in her tweet!
Continue reading “(Guide) EXO-CBX Travel Ladder in Tottori Part 3 – Kurayoshi Coffee”
This is a continuation from my Part 1 blog here in which I covered my adventure to Daisen Milk no Sato Tottori.
Kudos to @onlaymon who did a guide on these which is the source of most the informations. Check out her comprehensive guide on twitter.
My Day-2 Tottori adventure continues with Sakaiminato Yokai Town. The birthplace of the iconic lost and unlucky Baekhyun.
The town is accessible via the special Yokai Train on the JR Sakai Line, the same one EXO-CBX rode during the show. The train starts from Yonago Station.
CBX started their journey instead from Yonago Airport Station, which is another station on the JR Sakai Line, located in between Yonago and Sakaiminato. You will pass by the station on the way if you follow the route above. If you plan for a pit-stop, note that it will cause a delay as the train frequency is around once every hour.
CBX did not stay in Sakaiminato area but the crew had opted for the more scenic lake area of Yurihama, which is 73km or 3hours away by public transport.
The ryokan (Japanese traditional inn) they stayed at is called Bokoro and they stayed at the Kojokaku Corner Guest Room
I did not stay at the same hotel as CBX mainly cause it’s too darn pricey, far from other attractions and not very convenient for those using public transport. The hotel is only directly accessible by bus.
I instead opted to spend a night at Sakaiminato which I fully recommend as the town is beautiful at night (more to come on this below). I stayed at Onyado Nono Natural Hot Spring, a ryokan just beside Sakaiminato Station. The ryokan was gorgeous and such a steal at ¥9,100 for a double room per night.
The hotel serves free soba from 10-11pm for all guests. The breakfast cost an additional ¥2,000 per pax and it’s totally worth it! Huge assortment of Japanese breakfast inclusive of sashimi!
First thing first is of course to do the iconic Stamp Rally. You can join the same stamp rally mission that was shown during the show. There are a total of 35 stamps located all around the town.
The Stamp Rally booklet can be purchased at the Tourist Information Centre (inside the building beside the train station) for ¥120. Comes with a map of all the locations of the stamps. Buy this first before venturing into town so you can do the rally while walking around.
CBX did the stamp rally starting from Episode 6 of the Travel Ladder. The mission was to find 5 specifics stamps.
You will get a map of the locations of all the stamps. The map is in Japanese but it does help at least visually help by mapping out all the location.
My favourite part of the stamp rally is confused Baekhyun especially this scene from Episode 8 in which he couldn’t understand the mission, despite seeing someone stamping in front of him.
CBX started their Stamp Rally mission from the front of the museum. Entry is charged and cost ¥300 per person with opening hours daily from 9.30am to 6pm (last entry 5.30pm). Check latest price and schedule at the official website here.
It’s a pretty good photo opportunity since CBX took quite a few shots here. Watch the full episode here.
After all the adventures, this is the perfect place to rest your feet. Unlucky Baekhyun made another appearance here with his cute Medama-Oyaji Eyeball balloon. Watch the bit starting from Episode 9.
There’s a gift shop, cafe, lottery and also shooting game inside and outside the building. Official website is here detailing everything you can expect from the place.
So I tried out the ¥500 lucky draw during my visit as well and actually had unnecessary too much luck. Took me 3 tries to get Baekhyun’s balloon.
Lunchtime! This was the first stop for the hungry CBX during their travel ladder. Located around 10mins walk from Sakaminato Station.
Chen won a bowl of Crab Ramen (Picture below left side) but the Production team bought extra tuna, squid and crab meat ramen for them too.
I recommend staying over 1 night in this town as the town lights up after dark. It is a Yokai (Japanese for ghost/monster) town afterall.
This one was one of my favourite display, it really came alive at night since the backdrop design (window) really moves. The location can be found here on googlemap.
Opposite the display, there’s also sound effect of dropping water and a light that turns on and off. Talk about creepy!
They’ve also put character designs on the night lights along the Mizuki Shigeru Road.
I didn’t get a chance to have many meals here but I tried out a Seafood Donburi restaurant called “Genkitei (元気亭)”
The food ranges around ¥1,400 for a set with miso soup and goes up to ¥2,000+ if you choose one with snow crab. It’s a pretty decent seafood donburi but closes pretty early at 8.30pm. So if you’re staying the night, have your dinner early! Most shops is closed by sunset.
Continue reading “(Guide) EXO-CBX Travel Ladder in Tottori Part 2 – Yokai Town”
I’ve decided to start a new blog series to just share how I slowly was infected and became a fan of my current top stans. Starting my series with DAY6!
My MYDAY journey started long before the creation of DAY6. In 2012, I became a huge fan of a new kpop audition show, K-Pop Star (Season 1). So many talented young artist in the program but one in particular caught my eye and his name is Park Jae Hyung (Jae).
To be very exact, it was his performance of Jason Mraz “Butterfly” that made me go “ooph, boy can sing” and he did sing, and he sang it sexily even. I put the link to the performance below and he started singing at around 1:06 mark.
I became a fan at the time and though he didn’t win the competition, he was later signed as a trainee under JYP Entertainment. I however was not the most loyal one though since I’m not one to keep track of trainees 😝
3 years after the audition show in 2012, we were finally blessed with a debut! Jae finally debuts as part of DAY6 in 2015 with the song “Congratulations”
The song was and still is one of the most amazing debut song. I remember replaying the song so many times and loving it ❤️
I am guessing I was not much in touch with my kpop fandom side in 2015 so I didn’t keep up with further releases after the debut. I still wonder up to this day why I wasn’t a fan much sooner.
I am now convinced that my fate with DAY6 intertwines every 3 years, because in 2018 they made a comeback with the song “Shoot Me“.
However it was not the song that reintroduced me back to the fandom, but rather a 100sec medley live on Youtube that started with their hit “You Were Beautiful“ that made me went “Oh my god, it’s DAY6! How did I miss this release and they are just 1000x better now”.
Watch the 100sec live on Dingo YT channel below and be blessed by just pure talent. The song featured in the clip in order is You Were Beautiful, Congratulations, Letting Go, I Like You and ends with Shoot Me.
Although DAY6 greatness cannot be summed in 100sec, the live performance is a great start and it just showcases the amazing vocals and hook of their songs. Thank you Dingo for reminding me of DAY6!
As per my usual personality, I’m not one to binge watch Music Videos. I am very much a live performance junkie. Came across an acoustic performance of the song “You Were Beautiful” and I was awed hearing it live in it’s full version glory.
This performance cemented my wish to attend their concert one day!
At the point of me loving their songs, still the only member I recognised by face and name was my 2012 crush, Jae. In 2018 they embarked on their 1st World Tour, Youth but sadly skipped my country (Malaysia) and our nearest neighbour (Singapore).
By 2018, I have started attending overseas concert since I’ve slowly learned how to purchase tickets for concerts in Korea/Japan. I repeatedly tried to purchase tickets for their Seoul concert starting from their 2018 Christmas Concert to their Youth encore concert in 2019 and failed miserably. Both concert was sold out!
In 2019, DAY6 finally announced a concert in Singapore for GRAVITY tour!
Not only that, I checked the Korean ticketing website by pure chance and saw that the tickets to their 1st day Seoul concert was not sold out!
I told myself that I should just wait for the Singapore (SG) concert but since the concert will be held at a performing theatre and not a stadium, I decided that going to Seoul was the best choice (Yeah, I’m crazy like that and also cause I was still an airline staff at the time, so flight ticket was not an issue). I would go to Seoul and skip the SG date.
And so there I was, at the time I still called myself a fake fan since I only really know 3 of their songs to sing along and still couldn’t recognise all the members. I tried my best to study for the concert despite not knowing the setlist since I was attending the first concert date for the tour.
I took the red-eye flight right after work on the 8th August, arrived in Seoul on the concert day itself at 6am. Worst thing about August is that it’s peak summer so it was not the most comfortable experience. I went on some shopping at SMTOWN Store before heading over to Jamsil Indoor Stadium which is located around 3 bus stops away from COEX.
I was seated on the 3rd floor courtesy of the last minute purchase I made. The ticket is purchaseable on the English website of Yes24.
They started the tour with the song “Best Part” and I’ve never been so attacked in my life. Because during my potential setlist study time, the song had became one of my main favourite!
They just didn’t disappoint at all. The concert atmosphere was just crazy, everyone was jumping, having the time of their life. Honestly, I’ve attended a few concerts in Seoul and some of them at seating doesn’t stand up during performances which I think is really just suck the fun out of the concert (personal opinion though don’t shoot me). Not MYDAY though, everyone stood up and it was like a huge stadium party.
After the concert I just couldn’t have enough of them and how I wished I bought additional dates for their Seoul concert.
Why stop at 1 concert when the tour just started right? So yeah I know I said I was gonna skip SG concert but damn do I miss them.
I became a bit obsessed with the band after attending their Seoul concert. Finally started recognising them slowly by names and decided you know what, let’s just try to get tickets to their Singapore stop too.
I am never one to do things half assed, since there will be no extended stage I felt that anything that is not CAT1 will just not be worth it. So despite being more or less broke due to constant travel and concerts, still I decided to splurge anyway.
By stroke of pure luck that will probably never ever happen again in this lifetime, my sister managed to snag a seat on the 1st row at Zone B! The SG Star Performing Theatre seating for concert starts from Row C and we initially thought that we got the 3rd row. This never happened like seriously what kind of luck is this!
This SG concert up to this day is still my top no 1 concert experience in my life. The view was just DAY6 in front of me 100% of the time and who would’ve thought the lack of extended stage became such an advantage. I sadly didn’t win the hi-touch pass but that’s fine.
It was also on this fateful day, I decided on my DAY6 bias, the beautiful Young K. I was seated right in front of him and I just couldn’t take my eyes off him. Bring me back to this moment pleaseeeee!
My ultimate fangirl moment with Young K
Another double wham right here is my sister and I captured in the official concert photo! After the concert, I became a full fledged MYDAY.
Since then I’ve attended the hi-touch and fansign event in Tokyo, Japan.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7qoOxIljaw/?igshid=1r47kpcwwsm12
The GRAVITY tour in Jakarta, Indonesia.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7qvxrRl_0c/?igshid=1wajrl9poyivg
And the 2019 Christmas Concert “The Present”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B78WMTPlKpx/?igshid=1gst277x76d2f
It was a 7 years journey from hearing a boy from the states singing his heart out, to seeing all 5 of them perform in front of thousands of adoring fans. I might not be there throughout their journey but hoping for many more years with DAY6!
During my trip to Japan for EXO Planet #5 EXplOration in Fukuoka, I did a little mini side-trip to Tottori while en-route from Fukuoka back to Osaka.
The Tottori region itself is not by any means a famous tourist attraction in Japan. It seems to be more frequently visited by Japanese themselves, probably as a way to avoid the influx of overseas tourists at other spots. It’s definitely interesting to spot some random EXO-L taking CBX-inspired pilgrimage shots while we were there.
My trip would not be possible without the guide posted by @onlaymon on Twitter. Kudos to this kind soul and make sure to thank her too if you ended up using the tips on my blog!
I spent a total of 3-days in the Tottori area and a summary of my itinerary as follows;
This post will go through my Day 1 adventure in Tottori and will cover how I got to Tottori and onwards to Daisen Milk no Sato.
The area is accessible by train and during my trip, I combined the Tottori visit with my annual dosage of EXO concert in Fukuoka.
The most economical way to travel by train in Japan is to utilise the value pass offered by their railway company. There are two choices when it comes to Japan Railways (JR) pass to purchase for this route. The Sanyo Sanin Area Pass and the Kansai Wide Area Pass.
This was the pass I’ve purchased and I chose this as it covers not only Tottori but also my trip down to Fukuoka. The pass is valid for 7 days and within that time I made the trip from Osaka -> Fukuoka -> Tottori -> Osaka.
Please refer to the official website for rates and updates to the coverage here.
It is possible to purchase the railway pass after arrival in Japan, however I highly recommend buying it in advance since you do get a discount for the effort plus the line at the JR office to physically purchase it is quite long, even in the morning.
I purchased mine via the website KLOOK in this link. After making payment, the pass can be picked up from JR e-MCO machine as detailed in this step-by-step guide shared by KLOOK.
The pass covers train ride all the way to Sakaiminato where the Yokai Town CBX visited is located. On top of that, it also covers some of the top attractions in Kansai area such as Kyoto, Nara, Arashiyama and Himeji Castle.
You can reserved seats with this pass for free, which you should for long distance train or you might end up having to stand for a good few hours. Seat reservation can only be done at JR West counters.
Due to the cost, I would only recommend this option if you’re travelling out all the way to Fukuoka, on the Sanyo Shinkansen to make it worth your money.
This is a cheaper alternative if you are not planning to travel all the way to Fukuoka.
This pass can be purchased via KLOOK as well, but will only cover the trip from Osaka up to Tottori Station. It will not cover onwards trip to Yokai Town, a separate fee is necessary for that.
Similarly, the pass still covers the Hello Kitty Haruka from airport to Osaka city and the attractions in Kansai area mentioned in the previous pass. However, you can only ride on non-reserved seat (first come first serve). No seat reservation can be made on any train using this pass.
If you are not planning to extend your journey beyond Tottori, this is a more cost effective choice as ticket from Tottori Station to Sakaiminato Station (Yokai Town) will only cost you ¥1,980 one way on a non-express train. So even with a roundtrip, you can theoretically do the trip under ¥14,000.
If you are not planning to do a full tour of all the spots CBX visited or your trip will run longer than the 5-7 days limit, you may consider just buying ticket normally from the machine.
Cheapest fare for a one way trip from Osaka Station to Tottori Station will cost ¥3,960. This however will require 2 train changes along the way and extra 1.5 hours travel time compared to the more expensive direct train.
Alternatively, the direct route on Ltd Exp Super Hakuto will cost ¥6,590 on non-reserved seat.
There will be additional costs in visiting other attractions with the highest cost being the train from Tottori Station to Yokai Town at Sakaiminato Station (¥1,980 one way train).
Plan your route using Hyperdia as you’ll be able to sort the recommended route by cost or number of transfers.
We started our Tottori leg of the trip with a visit to Daisen Milk no Sato.
Right after EXO’s Fukuoka concert ended, we hopped on the train the very same night to Okayama which is a city located in between between Fukuoka and Tottori. We spent the night in Okayama so that we’ll be able to take an early train to Tottori in the morning.
The next day, we went onboard the Ltd Express Yakumo train to Yonago Station to start our CBX travel adventure. We had to drag our luggages along of course, but the station had a pretty decent amount of lockers so we had no problem storing the luggage.
Daisen Milk no Sato
Closing days:
– Closed during winter season from December to mid-March (see website for actual dates)
– Closed every 2nd and 4th Tuesday
Opening hours:
10am to 5pm
Entrance fee: Free. Additional fee required to join activities.
Official website: Link
Daisen Milk Farm is accessible from Yonago Station by the Daisen Loop Bus but at a very infrequent timing. To be specific it is only available during weekend and public holiday. There should be a normal bus during other times, but information on this are quite sparse. On top of that, normal buses will stop around 15mins away from Daisen Milk no Sato at “Masumizukogen” bus stop.
Daisen Loop Bus
Availability:
Only during weekends and public holidays from 27 April to 24 November
Fare:
¥1,200 unlimited ride pass per day (as at October 2019)
You can purchase the 3-day unlimited bus ride pass for ¥1,800 which will cover the selected bus rides to other attractions in Tottori
Timetable:
Downloadable from this link
Note:
– The day-pass can be purchased from the driver. The bus will stop right in front of the Daisen Milk entrance.
– The timing of bus from and back to Yonago Station is very sparse so plan your trip properly.
I opted for the day-pass instead of the 3-day pass as I didn’t want to limit any future bus plan to the selected route/timing covered by the pass.
The moment we got off the bus we were greeted by the cute cows by the roadside. It was a rainy day and Mt Daisen was sadly hidden behind the thick clouds.
Before we get too comfortable and start chilling out at the grassy areas, we decided to pop-in to the gift shop. As stated on the official site, the soft serve milk ice cream is sold at limited quantity (4,500 cones). Naturally our Asian instinct kicks in and we started lining up. Line wasn’t long since it was early morning. I can’t be sure if the ice cream do get sold out by the evening though. The soft serve is amazing! Actually all the milk-based products here are pretty high quality. This coming from a person who doesn’t enjoy dairy on normal days.
We grabbed the snacks that CBX tried during their visit, which were the Mochi of Milk and Creamy Milk Cake.
I am quite devastated to see that the swing they were riding on during the show was no more 😭 It’s supposed to be right beside the tree but it’s not there.
Visitors can try their hands at making ice cream just like CBX did during the show. It’ll cost ¥1,600 for 3-4 people. Advance reservations is necessary via phone 7 days prior to your visit as detailed in their website. @onlaymon mentioned in her Tottori guide that she had her hotel call 3 days in advance and still got a spot for the experience.
There are two restaurants located inside the main building, one serving Western food and the other a BBQ restaurant.
We chose to have Western Food and the restaurant served quite an interesting array of dishes with a milky twist. I had the Shrimp and Cheese Macaroni with Milk Sauce which was amazing!
CBX also visited the Horse Riding Club Daisen Riding Center (大山乗馬センター) located in the same area as this Milk Farm. However, it is not served by the Daisen Loop Bus. It is served by another sightseeing bus covered under the day-pass but you’ll have to double back to Yonago Station to take it.
We decided to give the horses a miss and we headed back to Yonago Station after lunch. From the station, we rode onboard the yokai train (yes same as the one CBX rode) to Sakaiminato Station where the Yokai Town is located.
I’ll be updating for my yokai adventure at the town on my next post. See you guys soon! ♥️
Never thought I’ll be visiting Osaka again in 2018 after Elyxion, but the sudden announcement (at least it was for me) of a Japan-only tour for CBX made for a strong case for a revisit to this beautiful city.
First and foremost, first thing I did in Osaka was to visit EXO-CBX limited time Pop-Up Store located at Shinsaibashi OPA
EXO-CBX Pop-up Store
Location: Shinsaibashi OPA
Reached Shinsaibashi OPA entrance at 10.50am which was only 10minutes before the opening at 11am. Entered the mall precisely at 11am and upon reaching the 7th floor via a very tiring escalator climb, there was already a half hour line formed outside the pop-up store. I have absolutely no idea how these people got there so fast when there were like 5 people in front of me before. I presumed they were smart enough to use an elevator instead 🤦
The line moves pretty fast and by around 2pm there were no lines at all and the shop was free to enter as you please.
Favourite Japan pop-up store item, the can badge. Always random and I bought 3 and got all the CBX members. I think I’ve used up my annual good luck
Actual outfit worn by Baek and Chen in Horololo MV 😍
Horololo MV on constant loop 🤩
Concert Venue: Osaka-Jo Hall
Access:
The Osaka-Jo Hall with a capacity of 16,000 is a much smaller hall as compared to the usual venue for an EXO concert, Kyocera Dome Osaka (51,000). It was no wonder the ticket was sold out to the absolute capacity for the 2 days concert.
General seat map for the hall. Of course the stage are different from actual design in this picture
http://www.livehis.com/seat/seat2_johall_b.html
I was quite surprised of the stage design for this concert with actual moving stages. The circle part of the stage moves from centre stage towards the seats. Which was pretty awesome and unexpected.
On top of that, they even added an extended stage at the end of the hall and moving trucks which is not a usual occurence for EXO concert at a small venue as this.
Check out @EXO_ZASEKI’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/EXO_ZASEKI/status/1001796565336391681?s=09
The concert was amazing! My favourite performance is for the song “Off The Wall”, the lightshow was AMAZING!
The Yokohama concert was aired on Wowow TV in Japan after the tour ended, so you can check out the performances ^^
[다운시 RT] WOWOW EXO-CBX🎪MAGICAL CIRCUS TOUR 2018.mp4 기차 (1.57GB)https://t.co/hpMQoLpu1g pic.twitter.com/ErasKAiRxx
— 🍓 빱빠 (@to_2B9N) July 22, 2018
p/s: No fancams from me as Japan venue does not allow recording (even via phone). I only take fancams in Southeast Asia concert where phone recording are officially allowed >_<
How did I get the tickets? View my blog on Japan ticketing here
Part 3 will explain how to purchase tickets via unofficial channel ie resale market. Read through the following for;
Part 1: Overview on Japan Ticketing process
Part 2: Buying tickets via official channels
Similar to international ticket resale websites like stubhub or viagogo, Japan has it’s own version that is Ticket.co.jp. Ticket seen on this website can be purchased via proxy service as explained in Part 2 in this link.
Update 19 Mar 2019: Website added paypal payment option for paper ticket purchase (non-electronic ticket). Means now you don’t need a phone number, just a Japanese address. Find a hostel that can receive package on your behalf and you can save on proxy fee. Credit card still locked to Japan issued card.
Screenshot of auto-translated page for EXO-CBX concert
As shown above, the price of each ticket and how much each seller are selling it for are stated. It is possible to buy Fan Club ticket through this method.
Tips/Terms commonly used:
p/s: This method was how I’ve purchased my Arena seats for Elyxion Saitama Day 1
Update: 16 Mar 2019 – Another popular site for ticket purchase is Ticket Street which allows for overseas credit card payment. However, ticket listed here is almost always more expensive than ticket.co.jp and not as many tickets are sold here.
The auction website by Yahoo! is as commonly used in Japan as eBay is being used internationally.
Tickets are not always available in this channel with most seller preferring ticket.co.jp for sales. But it did popped up a few times during Elyxion in Japan.
Easiest way to view the auction page and make searches is via FromJapan website in the search box just search for terms such as
I have performed a search on “Red Velvet” ticket via search “チケットredvelvet” and clicked the first listing.
If you’ve found a listing you are satisfied with, using FromJapan you will be able to make a bid or buy it now on the website itself.
Tips:
This is by far probably the hardest method to obtain ticket because it requires a basic Japanese language knowledge and a whole load of googletranslate.
Via the ever so popular hashtags, many many Japanese will be selling their tickets be it FC, general sales etc.
Hashtag predominantly used will be around similar to search term used in Method 2 above.
Example of such twitter listing
translated via GoogleTranslate
EXO PLANET # 4 The Ely XiOn
I will transfer the Kyocera Dome ticket.[Concession] 2/24 (Saturday) FC preceding 1 sheet
Lower alphabet row on the third base side24th Venue Venue Please handle only with those who can hand it.
# EXO # EXO Kyocera # EXOticket
The above shows that there is
After finding a listing that you are interested in, you can start contacting the seller via DM or reply.
Tips:
p/s: this was how I’ve obtained my Elyxion Saitama Day 2/ Elyxion Osaka Day1-2 tickets.
Good luck to everyone trying out these methods for ticket purchase ~~
If you are reading this, I will assume that you are familiar with the ticketing system in Japan as explained in part 1. If not I recommend reading over Part 1 as linked here.
2nd part will be venturing into the actual how to obtain tickets without Japanese address or phone number.
Proxy service is a package forwarding service provider who would enter the lottery/general sales on your behalf and in the event they win, they would make payment and send the ticket to your preferred address (can be international).
Please note that for General Sales, if the competition is high in which tickets get sold out within minutes, it won’t be possible for proxy service provider to get the ticket. However, since as explained in part 1, there are cases where concert remains not sold out so it would be possible for to buy officially.
Some of the proxy services that handles tickets purchase is as below:
i) Bridge Japan, they are a reputable business and payment are to be made in full (include shipping and fee) to them via Paypal before they will enter the lottery/general sales on your behalf.
In the case where you fail to win the lottery, the payment will be refunded minus a ¥1,000 fee (as at Feb 2017). If there are more than 1 lottery open, Bridge will try up to 3 times lottery openings for the same concert.
Below was the reply from Bridge in Feb 2017 when I contacted them about entering lottery for a Japanese band. The quote was including all fees including shipping to my home country, Malaysia. They are contactable on their webpage and you will need to provide the Eplus/tpia/l-tike link when making the inquiry (see Part 1 on how to get the details)
Estimated for 1 EXO Concert ticket would be
¥10,800 (Ticket price)+ ¥1,026 (System fee) + ¥2,500 (Product handling fee) + ¥1,400 (Shipping fee) + ¥790 (5% paypal fees) = ¥16,516
Remarks: Above reply stated that they don’t help with general sales, which I suspect is only because of the band I’ve requested for in which ticket get sold out immediately (within seconds – yup I tried). Since, there have been cases where EXO tickets are not sold out, there is a possibility they will be able to help with general sales.
ii) Japan Concert Tickets; similar to the above (i) this is a specialised proxy service for concert ticket purchases.
Official website states that lottery fees will be within ¥324 to ¥1,030 per ticket and as for whether this fee is refundable, I am not very sure since I have never personally contacted them about buying tickets before.
However, some reddits discussion have stated that their fees are 100% refundable in cases you lost the ballot.
Their fees breakdown estimated for EXO concert priced at ¥10,800 will be as below;
Refer to this link for pricing/fees and how to order https://www.japanconcerttickets.com/services/pricing/
In Japan, during General Sales ticket can be purchased at any time via ticketing machines located at the widely accessible convenience store Family Mart, Lawson or 7-eleven.
Of course this is the hard part since not everyone can be physically in Japan before the concert just to purchase ticket. However, for concerts in which ticket are not sold out until the day itself, the ticket may be purchased via convenience store up til few hours before the concert.
If you refer to Part 1, of the tutorial there is a General Sales for unspecified seat around 1 week before the concert (4th sale). This is where this method can be used, where you purchase the ticket via this machines and claim it at the ticket booth on the day of the concert.
How to even use this machine?
FYI, there will be no English interface for the machine. There are online tutorials on how to use them.
It would be recommended to check the corresponding website in the image above for the concert listing “code”. Having the code would mean you can just search via code instead of going through lenghty process of selecting genre etc.
After you have successfully booked via the machine, they will print out a confirmation receipt (this is not a ticket). Bring the receipt to the cashier to make the payment and the cashier will print the ticket for you (specified seat -3rd sale) or print a ticket confirmation for booth pickup (unspecified seat – 4th sale).
TIPS:
Tutorials on how to use the machine:
Posted on Part 3 is how to buy the ticket via Unofficial Channels ~~
I’ve been a big K-Pop fan for more than 10 years now and my newest, latest obsession now is the ever so popular, EXO. Greatest thing about having a job is obviously the available funds to finally do all the things I would love to do as a fan 10 years ago. One of it being, attending my favourite band’s overseas concert and since I couldn’t/don’t know how to get tickets for Seoul, I went for the next best thing, Japan!
Before I went on with how to get the tickets, below are some overviews of Japan concert ticketing process. It is very different compared to most concert ticketing we are used to so make sure you read through and understand this.
Similar to concert in Seoul, all seats in the stadium are officially priced the same. For EXO Planet #4 Elyxion in both Tokyo/Osaka it was ¥10,800 per ticket. Since it’s a flat price, the ticketing process would usually go in the below order;
In all the above official sales, you will not be able to choose the zone, seats and most of the time would not even know what you will be getting until you have paid for it.
Japan ticketing are popular for being restricted for only those with Japanese phone number/address and does not accept foreign credit card. This is still true but below are some of the possible methods to obtain your hands on those Japan concert tickets without any of those so please don’t give up yet. ^^
First of all, you have to know when the general sales/lottery are open and how much is the actual ticket price. Obviously, if you were trying to search for tickets before sale actually opens you’ll get no result or if you don’t know what is the ticket price, you won’t be able to make a good purchase decision.
If you need help finding information for your dream concert in Japan for other bands, contact me on Twitter here. I’ll try to help out if I can 😁
Continue reading “How to buy EXO (or KPOP) Concert Ticket in Japan (part 1)”
Update 26 June 2018: Cafe now permanently closed and has been for quite a while now. Sorry for the slow update
My Tokyo trip is never complete until that moment when I get to visit a new themed cafe. This time round I just googled multiple combinations of (insert anime name)+cafe just to see if any of my favourite anime opened a new cafe. Bam! What do you know, Gintama has one. Like whaaaat?! I have not watched Gintama (yet) but my sister/travelling buddy is a big fan of the series.
This cafe is relatively new during my 2015 visit as it was just opened in August that same year.
The cafe is located in Ikebukuro which is also famous for its ‘Otome Road’.
The interior of the cafe is definitely breathtaking. Definitely worth the visit even for non-fans.
Reservation
Similar to most popular anime/game themed cafe, reservation is possible and seats do get sold-out. Patrons are given a 2-hour slot for each visit and there will be events in the cafe during the time. Once the 2-hours start, they will not allow any one inside and late-comers will have to wait for the next slot.
Reservation can be done online via this link: Characro Gintama
(Reservations are open up to 2 weeks before the visit date, refer to this link to navigate the reservation page: Step-by-step Guide for Gintama Cafe)
There is no reservation charge or ticket pick-up. Just show up at the cafe with your email confirmation. However, there is a 500Yen table charge per head when you dine in the cafe.
Location
Station : Ikebukuro Station (Tokyo Metro/JR) – West Exit
600 m walk from station to Cafe
(Input this name into Google Map: カフェ&バー CHARACRO(キャラクロ) 池袋店)
Pictures
Enjoy your visit!
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