Finding Out What’s Playing 

You can find out about upcoming productions by going to the Takarazuka homepage.

A day or so after tickets have gone on sale Hankyu will begin updating the show’s ticket sales page with ticket availability.  A circle means that there are still a lot of tickets left, a triangle means that tickets are running out, and an X means that tickets are sold out.

...and they're gone 

Tokyo shows tend to sell out much faster than shows in Takarazuka.  What’s the reason for this?  There are a couple of factors:

1. Tokyo is much more urban than Takarazuka.  Where as most Kansai residents have to commute an hour to get to the city of Takarazuka, many more people actually live in Tokyo.  The general audience is bigger and the location is much more convenient.

2. The Tokyo Takarazuka Theater is slightly smaller than its Takarazuka City counterpart.

3. A lot of tickets are taken before the general sale even starts.  The actresses and staff themselves I believe have first dibs, and then Tomo no Kai.  Each individual sienne fanclub also acquires tickets for its members through various means.  Additionally, there are special performances that are completely booked for special occasions (for example, Visa had a special performance of Elisabeth that they completely booked for cardholders). There’s also soken, in which a star’s entire fan club will go to see the same performance together.

4. Takarazuka fans often are repeat offenders.  For diehard fans, it’s common to see a show five times (or more, depending on the extent of insanity ^^).  Fans do this not only to enjoy the show multiple times, but also to support their favorite stars, as stars of shows that sell well are more likely to be promoted or to stay with the company.  For this reason, some fans will actually sit through a show they don’t like multiple times.

This can all be a bit annoying if you really only want to see a performance once and have to fight with the fans who are trying to get their twentieth ticket.  However, not much can really be done other than try to form a good strategy -_-;

Ticket Availability

Sometimes you will be able to buy regular tickets (as in non-16^th row B tickets or standing room only) on the day of the show, but as a rule you can’t count on it for Tokyo Takarazuka Theater shows.  The likelihood of regular seats being available the same day is greater during the first half of the Tokyo run than the second. 

Generally speaking, weekends sell out faster than weekdays.  If you’re busy during working hours, try the Tuesday and Thursday night shows.

Just to give you an idea of ticket availability for some shows in 2007: 

Sakamoto Ryoma/I Love Chopin, Higher Than the Sky of Paris/Fancy Dance, Sakura/Secret Hunter, A/L, Never Sleep, Osaka Samurai, Hot Flower of Valencia, Kean, and Silver Rose Chronicle: Tickets were still available for some shows by the time the run actually began (about four weeks after tickets went on sale).  Some of them were sold out by the time the curtain went down, some weren’t.

Yukigumi Elisabeth 2007: the entire run sold out in 30 minutes

The Black Lizard/Tuxedo Jazz: sold out almost completely sometime during the first day

Adieu Marseilles/Love Symphony: Sold out completely on the first day

Dal Lake no Koi: The Yokohama run sold out within minutes on Ticket Pia.  Most of the other locations near Tokyo were gone within a few days.

Mahoroba/A Magician’s Misfortunes: As of this writing it’s about a week until the Tokyo run starts and 90% of tickets appear to be sold out.  Go tsukigumi. 

The following tickets generally sell out just about instantaneously (ranging from the first few minutes to the first day):

-the first and last performances of Grand Theater shows (and to a lesser extent, non-Grand Theater shows too)
-shinjinkouen shows
-final show runs for otokoyaku top stars (depending on the popularity of the star)
-TCA specials
-dinner shows
-productions of Elisabeth or Rose of Versailles
-SS tickets, particularly on the first floor 

For the above sorts of shows, you probably want to be there the second shows go on sale.  I wish I were kidding.  Even then, you may be sadly looking at a lot of X’es and pondering exactly how much you’re willing to spend on Yahoo! Auctions.

The opening and closing weekends of a run don’t sell out quite as fast as the above, but they’re still one of the first things to go.  Also, national tours in locations near or in Tokyo are often a fast sell.  (Or at least they were when I tried to get tickets to the Yokohama performance of Dal Lake no Koi.  That may have also been influenced by Dal Lake being a classic). 

Toujitsuken (Same-day tickets)

Gen has already written some really good information about toujitsuken, which I recommend that you read if you are interested in buying tickets on the day of the show.

Gen’s advice of “get there by 7 on a weekend, 8 on a weekday” is a good rule of thumb.  However, it depends on the show.  I’ve been to shows where the line still wasn’t full by 10 AM (or all the “standing-room only” tickets never even sold out by the time the show started), but I also once saw the line for Elisabeth become completely full (including “standing-room only”) by 7:15 AM on a Friday morning.  Your best guide is to see how the show is selling.  If every single performance is completely sold out, then you want to be at the theater as early as possible.  If there are still a lot of tickets left for the day you plan to go, you can be a little more relaxed. 

If the performance is company booked (meaning a group booked the entire performance specifically for their members tickets are not on sale to the general public), neither 16^th row B tickets nor “standing room only” tickets will be sold for that performance.  You can see which performances are company booked by looking at the show schedule.  If the words  貸切公演 are written in the space for a certain performance, that means it is company booked.

For special shows (first show of the run, last show of the run and shinjinkouen) Hankyu includes the 16^th row B seats in the general sale instead of selling them day of.  There are still “standing-room only” tickets for some of these shows, but they can only be bought the day before the performance by calling the box office when it opens at 10:00.  The one time I did this, I was told to come to the theater at 5:00 the day of the performance.  We were then given numbers based on how early we were able to get through on the phone, told to stand in line, and were called out in small groups to buy tickets.

Occasionally 16^th row B tickets and standing-room only tickets will go on sale at 9:30 instead of 10.  Hankyu will usually post about this in advance on the Takarazuka website.

Gen makes a pretty good argument for standing-room only tickets.  Personally, I prefer having a seat.  My legs tend to get tired after standing up for three hours.  You can sometimes get a more central seat with standing-room only tickets, but when you’re that far back I’m not sure how much it matters anyway.  However, if you’re choosing between standing for the performance and not seeing the show at all, I recommend the former.

Hankyu has three or four handicap accessible seats in the back of the first floor S-seat section.  If these aren’t sold by the day before the performance, they’re sold along with the other same day tickets for 8000 yen.

Luckily you can see exactly which tickets are left unsold by going to the Same Day Ticket page on the Takarazuka website.  A circle made of two lines means there are more than 100 tickets available, a circle made with one line means 50-100 tickets are avilable, an unfilled triangle means 11-50 tickets are avilable, and a filled-in triangle means less than 10 tickets are available.  Note: The handicap accessible S-seats never seem to show up here, even if they are eventually put up for sale on the morning of the performance.

Actually Buying Tickets

So, if you don’t want to wait in the same-day tickets line and you really want to go, what to do?  There are several ways to get tickets:

Some important notes:

-Each method of ticket acquisition draws from a different pool of tickets.  Therefore, it’s possible for the entire run of a show to be completely sold out at Lawsons but tickets to still be available at the theater box office.  Or vice versa.

-The ticket availability on the website is updated twice a day and is not up to the minute.  If a ticket you’re looking for is available on the website as of 4:30 the previous day and you’re worried about it disappearing, it’s best to either call or go to the theater first thing in the morning.

-National tour ticket sales are usually done a little differently.  You typically cannot buy them at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater box office.  They are usually available either via a service like Ticket Pia or at each individual venue’s box office.  Contact the venue for details.

-Lastly, don’t forget that all sales are final!

1: Go to the box office.

You can buy tickets at the actual theater.  The advantages of going to the box office are seeing exactly where you’ll be sitting, being able to easily compare dates, and no extra middleman costs.  They take credit card or cash.

Tickets for the run of a show do not go on sale at the box office until one day after they’ve gone on sale everywhere else.  I’m under the impression this is to prevent lines from forming days in advance.  In the case of something that sells out within the first half hour, you should probably try a different method.

You can also buy tickets for Nippon Seinenkan and Nissay Theater shows at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater box office.

2: Call the box office

I’ve called the box office several times but have never actually bought tickets over the phone.  I would imagine that they take credit card.

3: Bid on Yahoo! Japan Auctions

The best thing about Yahoo! Japan Auctions is that you can order tickets without having a Japanese address if you use a service like Celga or Crescent Shop.  However, it is an auction site and it’s not uncommon for popular tickets to go for a price significantly higher than retail.  Also, you’ll have to pay middleman fees if you use an auction deputy service.

Note 1: I haven’t heard of anyone receiving a fake ticket through Yahoo! Auctions, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.  Use common sense.

Note 2: For those of you who use Crescent Shop, usually your initial bid goes right into place.  For ticket auctions, the Crescent Shop staff has to approve the auction before they’ll make a bid.  They’re checking to make sure that 1) the seller is reputable and 2) there aren’t any conditions they can’t meet like having to pay three hours after the auction ends.  Once they’ve approved your initial bid, you’re good to go and can increase the amount any time you’d like.  Since they have to approve the initial bid, you should probably try to get that in a day or so ahead of when the auction ends. 

4: Go to a Ticket Pia store or the Ticket Pia website

Ticket Pia is, as its name would suggest, a Japanese ticket selling company.  They have both physical real-world stores and a website.  The website is entirely in Japanese and Ticket Pia will only ship to Japanese addresses.  You need to become a Ticket Pia member before you can buy tickets (it’s free, but you have to fill out the form).  I am currently blanking all of the forms of payment, but I’m almost positive you can pay by credit card.

To get to the Takarazuka section, type in 宝塚 in the search box of the main page.

For some shows of the run, the Ticket Pia website has a presale.  You fill out a form containing your information and your first four choices of what times you’d like to go to the show.  The advantage of the presale is that you’re thrown into the lottery like everyone else rather than having to use two computers with three browser windows open each in hopes of the darn page actually working when it’s busy.  Of course since it is lottery, there’s no guarantee you’ll win.  The one time I tried I didn’t win.  The presale results are announced before the regular run goes on sale, so you’ll have time to try the regular sale if you don’t get lucky in the presale.

One option after you’ve bought your tickets is to have them mailed to you.  The other is to actually pick them up at a Ticket Pia store.  If you choose the latter, you will need to bring your reservation number with you.

Unfortunately, a lot of events go on sale at the same time and it’s not uncommon that the site will show a busy message right after sales start.

I’ve never actually bought tickets at a Ticket Pia store.  I had a friend who bought tickets there the day they went on sale for Elisabeth, but when I tried to buy A-“R”ex tickets the day they went on sale at a Ticket Pia store I was told I could only buy them online for the first day.  Not sure on this one.

5: Go to Lawsons

Lawsons is a chain of convenience stores in Japan.  Inside every Lawsons is a Loppi machine, where you can purchase tickets to various events.  The machine is unfortunately entirely in Japanese.  I’ve had some luck with coercing the clerks to help me, so that may be worth a shot.  You can look up the performance you want either by entering the name or by using the Loppi code.  You can find this on each individual show’s page on the Takarazuka website.  Make sure you have selected the Tokyo run and not the Takarazuka one, as the codes are different.

When you’ve selected the tickets you want, the machine will print a receipt.  Take that to the clerk, and Lawsons will actually print out your ticket for you at the store.  You can choose what type of seat you want, but you can’t see where within that section you’ll be sitting.

Lawsons also has a website, but I’ve never used it before.

6: Use a ticket buying service

This is too much work, I give up!

Depending on the popularity of the current Grand Theater show, buying tickets can get a little frustrating.  If you’re not picky about what you see, consider seeing a Takarazuka show at the Nippon Seinenkan or the Nissay Theater instead.  They usually don’t have a revue half, but many of them are just as good as Grand Theater shows.  Three out of my four favorite shows played at either the Nippon Seinenkan or its Kansai equivalent Theater Drama City.