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:

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.

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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.

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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