Tenimyu Ticket Sales: A How-To Guide
Hello everyone!
Since Seigaku vs Rikkai was announced, I've had a large number of people asking me about getting tickets for the show. That's amazing! I'm so glad to hear so many overseas fans are getting the chance to visit Japan to see the show. And of course, I want to help as much as I can!
In the past, I've gotten tickets for other fans. I'm happy to offer my services in that regard, but rather than just dealing with it all myself, I thought I'd explain the process in a how-to guide, so even if you can't do it yourself (for the most part, it's rather difficult to do outside of Japan), you can at least get a look into how it all works!
This is likely incomplete; there are some parts I've never actually done myself, so I only know what I've read online and heard from other people. I'll be updating this as I get more information; if anyone has anything to add or any questions, please let me know!
First, some basic information. All of the below sales take place through one of the three main ticket websites in Japan: e+, Ticket Pia, and L-Tike. Fanclub tickets (both TSC and Tenimo) are done through e+; the rest are sold on all three. Each of these sites are associated with certain convenience store chains - e+ with Family Mart, Pia with 7-Eleven (and Circle K), and L-Tike with Lawson (and Ministop). When you buy tickets through these sites, you can choose between paying with a credit card (international cards are generally not accepted) and paying at a convenience store. If you pay with a credit card, your card will be charged automatically. If you choose to pay at a convenience store, you reserve the tickets online, and then they give you a few days to actually go and pay. If you do not pay before the deadline, your ticket reservation is canceled.
To receive your tickets, you can either pick them up at a convenience store (generally the same chain that you paid at) or have them mailed to you. You will not know your seat until you receive your ticket. Your seat will be automatically chosen for you when you reserve your ticket; the most you can choose is the category of seat.
There are three categories of seats - normal seats, side seats, and standing room. Normal seats make up the majority of seats in a theater, though the actual ratio depends on the theater layout. They're, well, normal seats. They could be everywhere from first row on the first floor to the last row of seats in the third floor. Any seat that has a generally uninterrupted view of the whole stage. Side seats are the seats at the edges of the theater. Generally, the angle is such that your view of the stage is somewhat cut off - I tend to assume that with these seats I won't be able to see one of the benches well (if at all). However, this is not always the case - I've had some seats where my view is barely cut off. And sometimes they end up being really close to the stage, so even though your view of one bench may be cut off, you have a fantastic view of what's happening in the center. It's a bit of a gamble, but sometimes you can get something really good. Finally, there's standing room (which I guess technically isn't a seat, but.). As you can guess from the name, you watch the show standing. In both theaters I've done standing room in, there's a rail in front of you to lean on. Each standing room ticket has a number, which is your position along the rail. The standing room area is generally in the back of the upper floors, but it's in the center, so you get a good view of the whole stage. It's also along the back aisle, so during the encore, the cast members who go up to the balcony run right behind you, and (in my experience) at the very least wave if not high five everyone. I've gotten a number of high-fives from standing room tickets; between that and the good view of the stage, I definitely prefer it to upper-floor side seats. But if the show's long it can get painful, so your mileage may vary ^^;
All tickets are the same base price. "But Indigo," you say, "that doesn't make sense! Why should you pay the full price if you can't see part of the stage?" Well, reader, I and many other fans agree with you. A lot of plays/musicals these days have tiered seating, where you pay more for better seats, but Tenimyu hasn't introduced that. Maybe someday? But for now, no matter what ticket you get, the price on the ticket will be 6000yen. In addition to the price for the ticket itself, ticket sites usually charge a few hundred yen in fees. This amount depends on the site and the round of sales.
Generally, when you apply for/buy tickets, you can buy up to 4 tickets per show. However, for the final show in each venue, you can only buy up to 2 tickets.
There are a number of rounds of ticket sales, which I usually split up into three sections: advance sales, general sales, and additional sales. Advance sales are done by lottery; general sales and additional sales are first-come first-serve. The date listed on the Tenimyu website is for the general sales - advance sales take place before, and additional sales take place after. For reference, since the Seigaku vs Rikkai dates for most of these aren't out yet, I'll be including the dates these took place for Seigaku vs Rokkaku, which opened in Tokyo on 12/22.
First up: advance sales. These are all done before the date listed on the Tenimyu website, and they are all done by lottery. This means that rather than everyone trying to buy tickets at once at 10:00am, there is an application period of a few days, during which you can apply at any time. The results are then announced anywhere from a few days to a week or so later (depends on the round/site) through email. If you hit, tickets have been reserved for you, and once you pay for them, they're yours! (Note: you choose your payment method when you apply. If you choose to pay with a credit card, your card will be charged automatically for all of the tickets you hit for. Only apply if you're prepared to pay for all the tickets you're applying for!)
In advance sales, there's a delay between when you win/pay for your ticket and when you can receive the actual physical ticket. You must pay soon after you hear the results of the lottery, but then it's a few weeks before you can go to issue your ticket at a convenience store or receive them in the mail.
I really recommend trying for as many lotteries as possible, because it's far less stressful than the mad rush for tickets during general sale. The tickets available here are generally better than the tickets available in general sales. In addition, if you hit for the tickets you want in lotteries, you're done way ahead of time - and even if you don't get all of them, hopefully you've narrowed down the number of tickets you need to buy in general sales.
Within advance sales, there are a number of different rounds, as follows:
Tenimyu Supporters Club (TSC): Ticket sales kick off with a lottery only open to members of Tenimyu's official (paid) fanclub, Tenimyu Supporters Club. Members of the fanclub receive a letter containing an entry code a few weeks in advance. This code, along with your membership number, is required to enter this lottery. Note that you have to join the fanclub before a certain date in order to be eligible for a lottery - you cannot join and immediately apply.
These are the final lotteries before general sales start.
Next is general sales. This is what the date on the Tenimyu website is referring to. This is when tickets are available to the public on a first-come first-serve basis.
Each of the three ticket sites has a certain number of tickets available. I'm not sure how they're divided, but they are distinct sets of tickets - which means that even if a show is sold out on e+, there may still be tickets left on Pia or L-Tike, and so on. However, they all go on sale at the same time, so I recommend choosing one to go for first rather than splitting your attention, because these tickets can go fast. The sites get overloaded, and depending on your internet connection, it can take a long time to get through. If you're trying to get tickets for a popular show like senshuuraku, you have to be pretty lucky to get through before it sells out ^^;
However! The way these work is that the site finds tickets for you and takes them out of the pool of available tickets right away, then asks you to fill out your information, payment method, etc. So, when people get through but don't complete the purchase, their tickets become available again. This means that even if a show is listed as sold-out, if you keep refreshing, especially in the first few minutes, sometimes you'll get lucky and there will be more tickets available. There's nothing to lose, so keep trying!
Once you get through and reserve your tickets, you can immediately go and pay for them at a convenience store. The ticket will be issued on the spot, so unlike advance sales, you find out your seat right away.
The English ticketing website is run through the Japan 2.5-Dimensional Musical Association. The Seigaku vs Rikkai page is here. For this site, you do not need to have an address in Japan, nor do you need to pay for the tickets at a convenience store or using a Japanese credit card. However, you must have a debit/credit card of some kind in order to pay.
The English ticketing site opens at the same time as general sales, and is also first-come first-serve. The number of tickets available is more limited than general sales - popular shows like Tokyo Gaisen sell out really quickly. I've never been able to get tickets through it myself. However, if you're looking to go to shows outside of Tokyo or on a weekday, I'd imagine you'd have a much easier time.
For these tickets, you pay online using a credit card, and then you pick up the tickets at the theater on the day of the show. So, you really have no idea where your seats are until you actually get to the theater. Surprises are fun, right?
General sales are open for each show until it sell out, or until the day of the show, whichever comes first. However, even if the show you'd like to go to is listed as sold out, don't give up hope yet! There's still additional sales!!
Where do additional tickets come from? Well, there's a few different types.
Obstructed view tickets: These tickets are only available for Tokyo and Tokyo Gaisen shows, because only TDC Hall is weird enough to have seats SO far to the side you can't see literally half the stage. I've never tried these myself, but I've had side seats close to the obstructed view area, and it really is obstructed - in addition to the angle being bad, sometimes speakers and other equipment block the view even further. And yet somehow, these tickets are still sold for full price. Well, it does get you inside the theater, so for a show like senshuuraku, I can certainly see the desire to be there to see it live even if you can't see the show itself very well. And apparently you get a nice view of the backstage wing opposite your seat, haha. Tenimyu generally puts these up for sale a bit after general sales as a 'these shows are sold out so we opened up some extra seats!' kind of thing.
I'm not entirely sure where some of these seats come from. It's possible Tenimyu reserves some seats for these from the start, because they always seem to have touhiki tickets available even when the shows appear completely sold out. But one source of seats for touhiki is empty kankeisha seats - seats that were reserved for people related to Tenimyu (family of the cast, past Tenimyu actors, etc) but never actually claimed by anyone. These seats aren't super close to the stage (for TDC, they're 1st balcony, not arena), but they're right in the center (fantastic view!) and, depending on the theater, might be along an aisle (good for high-fives!). At a theater like TDC, I think the chance of getting these is rather low, but outside of Tokyo, it's pretty common. In the five times I've done touhiki (two in Osaka for Seigaku vs Hyoutei, three in Nagoya for Seigaku vs Rokkaku) I've had three tickets that were likely kankeisha seats, one that was in the back of the first floor, and one that was a side seat only a few rows away from the stage.
Note: *supposedly* the seats are randomized, so it doesn't matter if you go to exchange your ticket as soon as the line forms or right before the show. *However*, in my experience, they absolutely give tickets out in order of quality, so I recommend getting in line early to get a better seat.
Note #2: When you buy these tickets online, you can buy up to 4 at once. However, unlike all previous rounds, there is no guarantee you will get seats next to each other.
Day-of tickets go on sale an hour and a half before the show. If more people are lined up to buy tickets than there are tickets available, they run a lottery to decide who gets the tickets. In this case, they will close the line, so you must line up by an hour and a half before the show. Staff will then hand out numbered tickets to everyone in line, and by an hour before the show, will post a board listing which numbers won. If your number is on the list, you then go to the ticket table and buy a ticket. There's also a list of alternates, in case someone who won doesn't show up.
Depending on the location and the show, there's a higher or lower chance of toujitsuken going to lottery. For example, venues outside of Tokyo like Miyagi and Fukuoka generally don't go to lottery, but Tokyo Gaisen goes to lottery often, especially the final weekend. For this reason, I really do not recommend depending on toujitsuken if you aren't prepared to lose. It's good for spur-of-the-moment things, like suddenly having the evening free, or if you were only planning on seeing one show but enjoyed it so much you want to see it again, but if you know you really want to see a show in advance, it's much better to get a ticket in advance.
BONUS ROUND: Unofficial Reselling!
Technically Tenimyu does not allow reselling of tickets! However, this does not stop people. In fact, Tenimyu itself doesn't really attempt to stop it either, since there's no ID check at the door, even though TSC tickets have the fanclub member's name written on them. There are two kinds of resellers, ticket scalpers and actual fans.
Ticket scalpers sell tickets through sites like Ticket Camp and Yahoo Auctions. They join TSC/Tenimo/etc, apply for as many tickets as they can, and then immediately turn around and sell them for ridiculous prices, upwards of double the ticket price, even higher for shows like senshuuraku. Do not buy tickets from these people. I mean, I'm not going to fault people who really, really want to see a certain show and are willing to pay lots of money for it (I'll admit, I bought a ticket from one of these people in order to see Hyoutei senshuuraku live) but please only as a last resort. There are usually other options. (Also, I've heard that sometimes fake tickets get sold through these sites, so be careful!)
Fans sometimes end up in situations where they have extra tickets they can't use. Maybe your work schedule suddenly changed, or your friend got sick and can't go with you, or maybe you and your friend both applied for two tickets through TSC and you both hit so now you have four tickets (this is extremely common). So to get rid of the tickets and get your money back, you find another fan in need of tickets for that show. Generally, these exchanges happen through Twitter, though some people use Ticket Camp since it's automated and provides some extra safety. In this case, fans usually charge ticket price + the original fees they paid + shipping. If you use Ticket Camp, you'll be charged an extra fee. If it's over Twitter, you usually pay by bank transfer, and you pay any transfer fees. I'm not going to go into too much detail about these exchanges (if anyone's curious, I'd be happy to explain it, but it'd be getting a bit off topic), but if you search "テニミュ 譲渡" on Twitter, you'll see people buying/selling/trading tickets.
SO. You may be thinking 'why the heck is this so confusing, I just want to see a silly tennis musical ;;' or perhaps 'this is interesting and all, but I don't live in Japan...'
It is confusing. It took me a long time to get the hang of it. If it's your first time, and especially if you don't live in Japan, it can be really overwhelming. In fact, most of this is not possible if you don't live in Japan. If you have a Tenimyu friend in Japan (or even just a butai friend; most shows follow the same sales methods!) see if they're willing to help you. If not...
I am tentatively offering my services as the Tenimyu Friend in Japan for Seigaku vs Rikkai. (If all goes well, I may continue this for future shows as well, but we'll see.) Check out tenimyuintranslation for more details. (in a bit, it's not up yet ^^;)
Anyway! I hope this was informative and understandable. If you have any questions and/or requests for clarification on anything, please let me know!! Especially if you're looking to go through this process yourself, I'd be happy to give as much advice as I can. But please keep in mind that this comes only from my personal experience as a fan, and other people might have different opinions/experiences as well.
Thank you for reading, and let's ticket fight bunbun~!
Since Seigaku vs Rikkai was announced, I've had a large number of people asking me about getting tickets for the show. That's amazing! I'm so glad to hear so many overseas fans are getting the chance to visit Japan to see the show. And of course, I want to help as much as I can!
In the past, I've gotten tickets for other fans. I'm happy to offer my services in that regard, but rather than just dealing with it all myself, I thought I'd explain the process in a how-to guide, so even if you can't do it yourself (for the most part, it's rather difficult to do outside of Japan), you can at least get a look into how it all works!
This is likely incomplete; there are some parts I've never actually done myself, so I only know what I've read online and heard from other people. I'll be updating this as I get more information; if anyone has anything to add or any questions, please let me know!
First, some basic information. All of the below sales take place through one of the three main ticket websites in Japan: e+, Ticket Pia, and L-Tike. Fanclub tickets (both TSC and Tenimo) are done through e+; the rest are sold on all three. Each of these sites are associated with certain convenience store chains - e+ with Family Mart, Pia with 7-Eleven (and Circle K), and L-Tike with Lawson (and Ministop). When you buy tickets through these sites, you can choose between paying with a credit card (international cards are generally not accepted) and paying at a convenience store. If you pay with a credit card, your card will be charged automatically. If you choose to pay at a convenience store, you reserve the tickets online, and then they give you a few days to actually go and pay. If you do not pay before the deadline, your ticket reservation is canceled.
To receive your tickets, you can either pick them up at a convenience store (generally the same chain that you paid at) or have them mailed to you. You will not know your seat until you receive your ticket. Your seat will be automatically chosen for you when you reserve your ticket; the most you can choose is the category of seat.
There are three categories of seats - normal seats, side seats, and standing room. Normal seats make up the majority of seats in a theater, though the actual ratio depends on the theater layout. They're, well, normal seats. They could be everywhere from first row on the first floor to the last row of seats in the third floor. Any seat that has a generally uninterrupted view of the whole stage. Side seats are the seats at the edges of the theater. Generally, the angle is such that your view of the stage is somewhat cut off - I tend to assume that with these seats I won't be able to see one of the benches well (if at all). However, this is not always the case - I've had some seats where my view is barely cut off. And sometimes they end up being really close to the stage, so even though your view of one bench may be cut off, you have a fantastic view of what's happening in the center. It's a bit of a gamble, but sometimes you can get something really good. Finally, there's standing room (which I guess technically isn't a seat, but.). As you can guess from the name, you watch the show standing. In both theaters I've done standing room in, there's a rail in front of you to lean on. Each standing room ticket has a number, which is your position along the rail. The standing room area is generally in the back of the upper floors, but it's in the center, so you get a good view of the whole stage. It's also along the back aisle, so during the encore, the cast members who go up to the balcony run right behind you, and (in my experience) at the very least wave if not high five everyone. I've gotten a number of high-fives from standing room tickets; between that and the good view of the stage, I definitely prefer it to upper-floor side seats. But if the show's long it can get painful, so your mileage may vary ^^;
All tickets are the same base price. "But Indigo," you say, "that doesn't make sense! Why should you pay the full price if you can't see part of the stage?" Well, reader, I and many other fans agree with you. A lot of plays/musicals these days have tiered seating, where you pay more for better seats, but Tenimyu hasn't introduced that. Maybe someday? But for now, no matter what ticket you get, the price on the ticket will be 6000yen. In addition to the price for the ticket itself, ticket sites usually charge a few hundred yen in fees. This amount depends on the site and the round of sales.
Generally, when you apply for/buy tickets, you can buy up to 4 tickets per show. However, for the final show in each venue, you can only buy up to 2 tickets.
There are a number of rounds of ticket sales, which I usually split up into three sections: advance sales, general sales, and additional sales. Advance sales are done by lottery; general sales and additional sales are first-come first-serve. The date listed on the Tenimyu website is for the general sales - advance sales take place before, and additional sales take place after. For reference, since the Seigaku vs Rikkai dates for most of these aren't out yet, I'll be including the dates these took place for Seigaku vs Rokkaku, which opened in Tokyo on 12/22.
First up: advance sales. These are all done before the date listed on the Tenimyu website, and they are all done by lottery. This means that rather than everyone trying to buy tickets at once at 10:00am, there is an application period of a few days, during which you can apply at any time. The results are then announced anywhere from a few days to a week or so later (depends on the round/site) through email. If you hit, tickets have been reserved for you, and once you pay for them, they're yours! (Note: you choose your payment method when you apply. If you choose to pay with a credit card, your card will be charged automatically for all of the tickets you hit for. Only apply if you're prepared to pay for all the tickets you're applying for!)
In advance sales, there's a delay between when you win/pay for your ticket and when you can receive the actual physical ticket. You must pay soon after you hear the results of the lottery, but then it's a few weeks before you can go to issue your ticket at a convenience store or receive them in the mail.
I really recommend trying for as many lotteries as possible, because it's far less stressful than the mad rush for tickets during general sale. The tickets available here are generally better than the tickets available in general sales. In addition, if you hit for the tickets you want in lotteries, you're done way ahead of time - and even if you don't get all of them, hopefully you've narrowed down the number of tickets you need to buy in general sales.
Within advance sales, there are a number of different rounds, as follows:
Tenimyu Supporters Club (TSC): Ticket sales kick off with a lottery only open to members of Tenimyu's official (paid) fanclub, Tenimyu Supporters Club. Members of the fanclub receive a letter containing an entry code a few weeks in advance. This code, along with your membership number, is required to enter this lottery. Note that you have to join the fanclub before a certain date in order to be eligible for a lottery - you cannot join and immediately apply.
- Seat types: TSC is where the good seats are, folks. Now, it's true that not all tickets won through the TSC lottery are great seats (for popular shows, especially in Tokyo Gaisen, I've gotten seats all the way up in 2nd balcony before). But as far as I can tell, almost all really good seats go in this lottery. They're all normal seats, and generally first floor/arena, but even if you do get, say, second floor, it'll likely be in or close to the center, so you'll have a good view.
- Fees: Tickets won through TSC have zero fees! It's a flat 6000yen per ticket.
- Seigaku vs Rokkaku dates: (application period) 10/17 (Mon) 12:00 ~ 10/20 (Thurs) 18:00 (results announced) 10/27 (Thurs) 13:00
- Seigaku vs Rikkai dates: (application period) 5/15 (Mon) 12:00 ~ 5/18 (Thurs) 18:00 (results announced) 5/25 (Thurs) 13:00
- Seat types: Normal seats. As for quality, your mileage may vary, but all the tickets I've ever won through Tenimo have been 3rd balcony. For DL2016, they were way off to the side, too. They were aisle seats, and I got high-fives from Nitobe-senpai and Kita-kun which was a total dream come true, so in the end I was glad I had them? But they were really far from the stage and the view wasn't great. However, I've only ever applied for DL2016 and shows in TDC Hall, so it's likely they're better in the smaller theaters.
- Fees: Tenimo tickets also have no service fees! Yay paid fanclub memberships.
- Seigaku vs Rokkaku dates: (application period) 10/24 (Mon) 12:00 ~ 10/27 (Thurs) 18:00 (results announced) 11/3 (Thurs) 13:00
- Seigaku vs Rikkai dates: TBA
- Seat types: Normal seats
- Fees: According to my past applications for this, this round also has no fees?
- Seigaku vs Rokkaku dates: (application period) 10/29 (Sat) 12:00 ~ 11/1 (Tues) 23:59 (results announced) 11/5 (Sat) 13:00
- Seigaku vs Rikkai dates: TBA
These are the final lotteries before general sales start.
- Seat types: Normal seats
- Fees: These rounds tend to have relatively high fees, with the ticket sites charging extra fees simply for being an advance sale. For example, when I applied through e+ for two tickets for Seigaku vs Rokkaku, the service fees (had I hit for them) would have been an extra 1678yen, plus 216yen to actually issue the ticket.
- Seigaku vs Rokkaku dates:
- Pia: (application period) 11/5 (Sat) 11:00 ~ 11/9 (Wed) 11:00 (results announced) 11/11 (Fri) 18:00
- Unfortunately Pia is the only site of the three that allows searching for old shows, so I can't find the dates for e+ or L-Tike. However, they tend to be only a few days off from each other, so they're all around the same general time.
- Seigaku vs Rikkai dates: TBA
Next is general sales. This is what the date on the Tenimyu website is referring to. This is when tickets are available to the public on a first-come first-serve basis.
Each of the three ticket sites has a certain number of tickets available. I'm not sure how they're divided, but they are distinct sets of tickets - which means that even if a show is sold out on e+, there may still be tickets left on Pia or L-Tike, and so on. However, they all go on sale at the same time, so I recommend choosing one to go for first rather than splitting your attention, because these tickets can go fast. The sites get overloaded, and depending on your internet connection, it can take a long time to get through. If you're trying to get tickets for a popular show like senshuuraku, you have to be pretty lucky to get through before it sells out ^^;
However! The way these work is that the site finds tickets for you and takes them out of the pool of available tickets right away, then asks you to fill out your information, payment method, etc. So, when people get through but don't complete the purchase, their tickets become available again. This means that even if a show is listed as sold-out, if you keep refreshing, especially in the first few minutes, sometimes you'll get lucky and there will be more tickets available. There's nothing to lose, so keep trying!
Once you get through and reserve your tickets, you can immediately go and pay for them at a convenience store. The ticket will be issued on the spot, so unlike advance sales, you find out your seat right away.
- Seat types: Normal seats, side seats, and standing room are all available. Side seats and standing room tend to go a little more slowly than the normal seats, so if you just want to get in and don't care about how good your seat is, you might have better luck trying for those first.
- Fees: Less than advance sales, but they still exist. For example, when I bought a ticket for Rokkaku from e+, I had to pay 432yen in service fees + 108yen for issuing the ticket.
- Seigaku vs Rokkaku dates: 11/20 (Sun) 10:00
- Seigaku vs Rikkai dates: 6/18 (Sun) 10:00
The English ticketing website is run through the Japan 2.5-Dimensional Musical Association. The Seigaku vs Rikkai page is here. For this site, you do not need to have an address in Japan, nor do you need to pay for the tickets at a convenience store or using a Japanese credit card. However, you must have a debit/credit card of some kind in order to pay.
The English ticketing site opens at the same time as general sales, and is also first-come first-serve. The number of tickets available is more limited than general sales - popular shows like Tokyo Gaisen sell out really quickly. I've never been able to get tickets through it myself. However, if you're looking to go to shows outside of Tokyo or on a weekday, I'd imagine you'd have a much easier time.
For these tickets, you pay online using a credit card, and then you pick up the tickets at the theater on the day of the show. So, you really have no idea where your seats are until you actually get to the theater. Surprises are fun, right?
- Seat types: I assume normal seats...? But I don't know anyone who's actually successfully gotten Tenimyu tickets through this so I'm not sure.
- Fees: When I used the English ticketing website to get Toumyu tickets, I was charged a fee of 500yen per ticket. It's probably the same for Tenimyu?
- Seigaku vs Rokkaku dates: 11/20 (Sun) 10:00
- Seigaku vs Rikkai dates: 6/18 (Sun) 10:00
General sales are open for each show until it sell out, or until the day of the show, whichever comes first. However, even if the show you'd like to go to is listed as sold out, don't give up hope yet! There's still additional sales!!
Where do additional tickets come from? Well, there's a few different types.
Obstructed view tickets: These tickets are only available for Tokyo and Tokyo Gaisen shows, because only TDC Hall is weird enough to have seats SO far to the side you can't see literally half the stage. I've never tried these myself, but I've had side seats close to the obstructed view area, and it really is obstructed - in addition to the angle being bad, sometimes speakers and other equipment block the view even further. And yet somehow, these tickets are still sold for full price. Well, it does get you inside the theater, so for a show like senshuuraku, I can certainly see the desire to be there to see it live even if you can't see the show itself very well. And apparently you get a nice view of the backstage wing opposite your seat, haha. Tenimyu generally puts these up for sale a bit after general sales as a 'these shows are sold out so we opened up some extra seats!' kind of thing.
- Seat types: Technically these are a type of their own, but they're basically side seats. Very extreme side seats.
- Fees: Same as general sales.
- Seigaku vs Rokkaku dates: 12/4 (Sun) 10:00
- Seigaku vs Rikkai dates: TBA
I'm not entirely sure where some of these seats come from. It's possible Tenimyu reserves some seats for these from the start, because they always seem to have touhiki tickets available even when the shows appear completely sold out. But one source of seats for touhiki is empty kankeisha seats - seats that were reserved for people related to Tenimyu (family of the cast, past Tenimyu actors, etc) but never actually claimed by anyone. These seats aren't super close to the stage (for TDC, they're 1st balcony, not arena), but they're right in the center (fantastic view!) and, depending on the theater, might be along an aisle (good for high-fives!). At a theater like TDC, I think the chance of getting these is rather low, but outside of Tokyo, it's pretty common. In the five times I've done touhiki (two in Osaka for Seigaku vs Hyoutei, three in Nagoya for Seigaku vs Rokkaku) I've had three tickets that were likely kankeisha seats, one that was in the back of the first floor, and one that was a side seat only a few rows away from the stage.
Note: *supposedly* the seats are randomized, so it doesn't matter if you go to exchange your ticket as soon as the line forms or right before the show. *However*, in my experience, they absolutely give tickets out in order of quality, so I recommend getting in line early to get a better seat.
Note #2: When you buy these tickets online, you can buy up to 4 at once. However, unlike all previous rounds, there is no guarantee you will get seats next to each other.
- Seat types: You could end up with any seat in the house - normal seats, side seats, standing room, or obstructed view seats. It's a total mystery. Personally, I'm a little hesitant to try these for Tokyo/Tokyo Gaisen since TDC has such a wide variety of seats, but outside of Tokyo, the chance of getting a good seat is pretty high.
- Fees: Same as general sales.
- Seigaku vs Rokkaku dates: Unlike all of the previous rounds, where tickets for all shows are available at the same time, these are released venue-by-venue. For each, there are two rounds of sales, one for TSC members and one for the general public. However, the only difference is that the TSC sales happen first - on the day of the show there's no distinction between TSC touhiki tickets and normal touhiki tickets. The dates for TSC sales and Pia's open sales are below:
- Tokyo: (TSC) 12/10 (Sat) 11:00 (Pia) 12/14 (Wed) 10:00
- Osaka: (TSC) 12/16 (Fri) 19:00 (Pia) 12/20 (Tues) 10:00
- Aichi: (TSC) 1/10 (Tues) 19:00 (Pia) 1/13 (Fri) 10:00
- Miyagi: (TSC) 1/16 (Mon) 19:00 (Pia) 1/20 (Fri) 10:00
- Fukuoka: (TSC) 1/22 (Sun) 11:00 (Pia) 1/26 (Thurs) 10:00
- Gaisen: (TSC) 1/28 (Sat) 11:00 (Pia) none?
- Seigaku vs Rikkai dates: TBA
Day-of tickets go on sale an hour and a half before the show. If more people are lined up to buy tickets than there are tickets available, they run a lottery to decide who gets the tickets. In this case, they will close the line, so you must line up by an hour and a half before the show. Staff will then hand out numbered tickets to everyone in line, and by an hour before the show, will post a board listing which numbers won. If your number is on the list, you then go to the ticket table and buy a ticket. There's also a list of alternates, in case someone who won doesn't show up.
Depending on the location and the show, there's a higher or lower chance of toujitsuken going to lottery. For example, venues outside of Tokyo like Miyagi and Fukuoka generally don't go to lottery, but Tokyo Gaisen goes to lottery often, especially the final weekend. For this reason, I really do not recommend depending on toujitsuken if you aren't prepared to lose. It's good for spur-of-the-moment things, like suddenly having the evening free, or if you were only planning on seeing one show but enjoyed it so much you want to see it again, but if you know you really want to see a show in advance, it's much better to get a ticket in advance.
- Seat types: Like touhiki, you could end up with any seat in the house - normal seats, side seats, standing room, or obstructed view seats. In my experience, of the tickets they have to give out on the day of the show, they save the better seats for touhiki. I've done toujitsuken three times in Osaka, and got a side seat in the very back row of the 2nd floor once, and standing room seats twice. The theater in Osaka is really nice, so even those seats weren't bad, but in Tokyo, they regularly sell obstructed view seats here. If you want good seats, I don't recommend it.
- Fees: None! Since you're buying the tickets directly at the ticket table, there are no ticket sites to charge ridiculous fees.
- Dates: an hour and a half before each show!
BONUS ROUND: Unofficial Reselling!
Technically Tenimyu does not allow reselling of tickets! However, this does not stop people. In fact, Tenimyu itself doesn't really attempt to stop it either, since there's no ID check at the door, even though TSC tickets have the fanclub member's name written on them. There are two kinds of resellers, ticket scalpers and actual fans.
Ticket scalpers sell tickets through sites like Ticket Camp and Yahoo Auctions. They join TSC/Tenimo/etc, apply for as many tickets as they can, and then immediately turn around and sell them for ridiculous prices, upwards of double the ticket price, even higher for shows like senshuuraku. Do not buy tickets from these people. I mean, I'm not going to fault people who really, really want to see a certain show and are willing to pay lots of money for it (I'll admit, I bought a ticket from one of these people in order to see Hyoutei senshuuraku live) but please only as a last resort. There are usually other options. (Also, I've heard that sometimes fake tickets get sold through these sites, so be careful!)
Fans sometimes end up in situations where they have extra tickets they can't use. Maybe your work schedule suddenly changed, or your friend got sick and can't go with you, or maybe you and your friend both applied for two tickets through TSC and you both hit so now you have four tickets (this is extremely common). So to get rid of the tickets and get your money back, you find another fan in need of tickets for that show. Generally, these exchanges happen through Twitter, though some people use Ticket Camp since it's automated and provides some extra safety. In this case, fans usually charge ticket price + the original fees they paid + shipping. If you use Ticket Camp, you'll be charged an extra fee. If it's over Twitter, you usually pay by bank transfer, and you pay any transfer fees. I'm not going to go into too much detail about these exchanges (if anyone's curious, I'd be happy to explain it, but it'd be getting a bit off topic), but if you search "テニミュ 譲渡" on Twitter, you'll see people buying/selling/trading tickets.
SO. You may be thinking 'why the heck is this so confusing, I just want to see a silly tennis musical ;;' or perhaps 'this is interesting and all, but I don't live in Japan...'
It is confusing. It took me a long time to get the hang of it. If it's your first time, and especially if you don't live in Japan, it can be really overwhelming. In fact, most of this is not possible if you don't live in Japan. If you have a Tenimyu friend in Japan (or even just a butai friend; most shows follow the same sales methods!) see if they're willing to help you. If not...
I am tentatively offering my services as the Tenimyu Friend in Japan for Seigaku vs Rikkai. (If all goes well, I may continue this for future shows as well, but we'll see.) Check out tenimyuintranslation for more details. (in a bit, it's not up yet ^^;)
Anyway! I hope this was informative and understandable. If you have any questions and/or requests for clarification on anything, please let me know!! Especially if you're looking to go through this process yourself, I'd be happy to give as much advice as I can. But please keep in mind that this comes only from my personal experience as a fan, and other people might have different opinions/experiences as well.
Thank you for reading, and let's ticket fight bunbun~!