Monday, May 09, 2005
Getting tickets in Japan
If you read my post about Japanese photocopiers a while back, you'll know that a certain level of faux-efficiency is here in Japan. I don't know how that started; the Japanese certainly don't do a lot of patting themselves on the back saying "Look how efficient we are". I guess it is us, the non-Japanese living here, who propagated the rumours before coming. You can think that Japan is the most efficient country in the world before coming, then when here, you'll start to believe the opposite.
This is not to say that Japan is the most inefficient country, just that Canada has it beat on a few things.
In Canada (or at least Vancouver, but probably the rest of Canada too), when you buy a ticket to an event, you know what you're getting. You know the price range you want, you know if you're standing or sitting, you know what section, aisle, row, seat whatever. The clerk will find out just what kind of ticket you are looking for, will search for it, if it's available you can get it, and if not, the clerk gives you alternate selections with which to choose from. Sometimes even a map of the venue is pulled out. For example, if I wanted tickets to an event at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, I might be able to choose lower balcony row 15 seat 6. No problem, it's all easily layed out for the customer's benefit. And all very high-tech I must say.
Let's forward to getting tickets in Japan. First of all, there's no Ticketmaster here, or equivalent option of getting tickets through an agent. I don't know, maybe it exists in Japan but just not inaka places like Kumamoto. For the most part, you have to get tickets through a machine at a konbini. If you're lucky enough to know what buttons you are pressing, you can proceed to looking up your tickets (this is really challenging; one wrong button can send you spiralling back to the beginning). From this machine, you are pretty much flying blind. You can't see the stadium or concert-hall where the event is taking place, you don't know if what you pay for your ticket is worth it and what not. Completely ridiculous how the cutomer doesn't really have the final say...
Here are three examples of dicey ticket purchasing moments I've experienced:
I bought a ticket for last year's Summersonic concert, as did my friend Mihoko. That was all fine and well; festival ticket, general seating, we were in good right? Not exactly. Apparently my ticket stipulated that I get a green wrist band, while Mihoko's said blue. We were gonna have to sit in different parts of the venue, even though we went together. Did the comp at the konbini tell us what colour wristband we were to get? No. But luckily we ended up together after all.
I bought yet another ticket to the Japanese-American all-star baseball tour last year too. When the price menu came up, and knowing that I effectively wouldn't know where I was sitting, I ordered the most expensive tickets. Well I ended up getting burned with right field nose bleed bleacher seats at Fukuoka Dome, so far from the action that I needed binoculars to see the game. Of course I didn't bring binoculars though.
And most recently, I bought tickets for my brother and I to the Giants-Lotte Marines game at Tokyo Dome. I had to get these seats just right though since I really want to show my brother the craziness of Japanese baseball. I asked where Giants fans sit, and these two girls at the Family Mart called their supervisor, who then called the ticket broker, who then probably called someone in Tokyo all because I wanted confirmation of where I'm sitting. Seem like a waste of time? Yes. At least I kind of got an idea of what ticket to buy... stgay tuned however for whether it's the ticket I wanted or not.
This is not to say that Japan is the most inefficient country, just that Canada has it beat on a few things.
In Canada (or at least Vancouver, but probably the rest of Canada too), when you buy a ticket to an event, you know what you're getting. You know the price range you want, you know if you're standing or sitting, you know what section, aisle, row, seat whatever. The clerk will find out just what kind of ticket you are looking for, will search for it, if it's available you can get it, and if not, the clerk gives you alternate selections with which to choose from. Sometimes even a map of the venue is pulled out. For example, if I wanted tickets to an event at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, I might be able to choose lower balcony row 15 seat 6. No problem, it's all easily layed out for the customer's benefit. And all very high-tech I must say.
Let's forward to getting tickets in Japan. First of all, there's no Ticketmaster here, or equivalent option of getting tickets through an agent. I don't know, maybe it exists in Japan but just not inaka places like Kumamoto. For the most part, you have to get tickets through a machine at a konbini. If you're lucky enough to know what buttons you are pressing, you can proceed to looking up your tickets (this is really challenging; one wrong button can send you spiralling back to the beginning). From this machine, you are pretty much flying blind. You can't see the stadium or concert-hall where the event is taking place, you don't know if what you pay for your ticket is worth it and what not. Completely ridiculous how the cutomer doesn't really have the final say...
Here are three examples of dicey ticket purchasing moments I've experienced:
I bought a ticket for last year's Summersonic concert, as did my friend Mihoko. That was all fine and well; festival ticket, general seating, we were in good right? Not exactly. Apparently my ticket stipulated that I get a green wrist band, while Mihoko's said blue. We were gonna have to sit in different parts of the venue, even though we went together. Did the comp at the konbini tell us what colour wristband we were to get? No. But luckily we ended up together after all.
I bought yet another ticket to the Japanese-American all-star baseball tour last year too. When the price menu came up, and knowing that I effectively wouldn't know where I was sitting, I ordered the most expensive tickets. Well I ended up getting burned with right field nose bleed bleacher seats at Fukuoka Dome, so far from the action that I needed binoculars to see the game. Of course I didn't bring binoculars though.
And most recently, I bought tickets for my brother and I to the Giants-Lotte Marines game at Tokyo Dome. I had to get these seats just right though since I really want to show my brother the craziness of Japanese baseball. I asked where Giants fans sit, and these two girls at the Family Mart called their supervisor, who then called the ticket broker, who then probably called someone in Tokyo all because I wanted confirmation of where I'm sitting. Seem like a waste of time? Yes. At least I kind of got an idea of what ticket to buy... stgay tuned however for whether it's the ticket I wanted or not.
