- If you call to make a
reservation but tickets are already sold-out, don't give
up. There are a few other options!
- ~
OPTION 1 ~
Tickets are
available for bidding on through Yahoo! Japan Auctions.
These are online auctions being sold by individual sellers
in Japan (like eBay). You can chose which seats you'd like
to bid on.
Yahoo Auctions
charges a fee for the service so it's difficult to bid
yourself unless you know Japanese or have a friend that does
and can handle the auction for you. However, there are
English bidding services at:
http://www.rinkya.com
http://www.geocities.com/jpanime_com/celga.htm
I haven't tried
either of them yet, but they will bid for you. Some of the
webpages of the 2nd site don't load for me, but you can
e-mail the owner for details about a transaction. One of
these addresses should work:
- Bustakei@yahoo.com
- maruchan@sailormoon.com
- maruchan_kou@hotmail.com
I can supply you
with auction URLs for show tickets you would like to bid on.
You can in turn give the URL to the bidding service. Just
e-mail me by removing the spaces: dioptase
@ quixium .com
- ~
OPTION 2 ~
Your last option is
going to the theatre early in the morning on the day you'd
like to watch a show. Takarazuka reserves 50 tickets per day
for walk-up buyers. A friend of mine returned from a trip to
Japan and wrote a description of how she got tickets on the
day of a Takarazuka performance. Below is what she told
me.
She went to the
Tokyo theatre; the Dai Genkijou theatre doesn't have
multiple lines like what she encountered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Took my husband
with me to Takarazuka in Tokyo. Thanks so much to Ymke
for telling me about cancellation tickets - Chris and I
got really good seats - off to one side, but in the "S"
section.
-
- All the signs
for Takarazuka on this side of the building are in
Japanese only, and (at least when I was there) there may
be a number of lines whose beginnings and endings are
confusing. The most important thing is not to
accidentally get in the line for the movie theater next
door. There was a *huge* line backed up across the
Takarazuka area when I went (The new Ghibli movie was
out).
-
- If you're facing
the Takarazuka theater, the entrance doors will be
straight ahead of you, the Takarazuka ticket window is on
your left, and the movie theater ticket window is on your
right. You can also tell the movie theater window because
it is the one that says "Tickets" in English above
it.
-
- Once you've
avoided the movie theater, you still have to get in the
right line for Takarazuka. The day I attended had two
shows, andthree lines. The right hand line was for
tickets for the same day, first show. The middle line was
for reserved ticket pick-up. The left hand line was for
same day, second show tickets. Another way to tell is, if
you look at the signs at each window, the line for the
first show will have a bunch of kanji, the numeral "1",
and more kanji. The line for the second show is the same,
except with a numeral "2" and the reservation line is all
kanji.
-
- The line for the
first show was *way* *way* longer when I was there. If
there's a second show the day you are there, and you can
fit it into your schedule, you might want to try this
line first. We actually got in the line for the first
show originally, but were *just* toofar back in line to
get a chance to try and wait for cancellations (They gave
those with a chance a pink piece of paper, but made them
no promises of getting tickets.)But the lady doing line
control whisked us over to the other line and there were
plenty of seats left there.
-
- If you buy
same-day tickets, you must pay in cash or with a
"Takarazuka" card.
-
- If anyone was
hanging around out front selling their tickets, I didn't
see them. Of course, we might have gotten there too
late.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Takarazuka Kagekidan
names, references, etc. © copyright by Takarazuka
Revue Company, Hankyu Corporation, and associated
parties. This website is intended for promotional and
informational purposes only.
- Article © copyright
March 2002 by Stephanie M. Taylor
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