Twishort
SHINee World 2018 Japan Ticket Tutorial
So how do foreigners get tickets to SHINee concerts in Japan? The short answer is…they usually can’t. The system is designed to be pretty much foreigner-proof unless you happen to live in Japan or have a Japanese friend willing to help you. Joining SWJ is the first step to securing any real chance of getting concert tickets. However, registration to SWJ requires a Japanese home address and mobile number. The address you provide will be used to send you your official membership card and future issues of SEEK so please don’t attempt to use a false one.
There is a Japanese mail forwarding service called Tenso (http://www.tenso.com/en/) that will provide you with a Japanese address you can use for SWJ registration. However, the phone number they give you will be a land line. SWJ asks for a mobile number. My suggestion is that you use a fake number in the correct mobile number format (i.e. 080-XXXX-XXXX) to register instead. Unlike your address, your mobile number won't be used for anything.
Registration for SHINee World J begins here: https://shineeworld-j.smtown-fc.jp/join
Although the website is in Japanese, Tenso will provide you with an address in the correct Japanese format so all you need to do is copy/paste the information into the corresponding boxes. Tools like Google translate should be enough to get you through the rest of the registration process.
After you finish joining SWJ, you will need to create a Japanese tickebo account using the same information you used to register for SWJ.
https://ticket.tickebo.jp/ja/user/regist/input/?INIT=1
*Note: There will be a registration fee of ¥1000 that you pay once, and an annual fee of ¥5200.
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Fanclub Lottery
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations. Your chances of getting a ticket to JAT have exponentially increased. You will then want to go here and apply for the current SWJ ticket lottery: http://tickebo.jp/sw2018-domefc02/
Your Tickebo login information will be the same as your SWJ account. Tickebo may ask you to enter your birthday and fanclub registration number before you can apply for tickets. This number can be found under the "My Account" tab on the SWJ homepage.
Ticket applications for this round are available from 2018/01/12 (Fri) 12:00 through 2017/01/14 (Sun) 23:59
The way this works is that you pick all the shows you want to attend and apply for tickets via a lottery system. You can apply for up to 2~4 tickets per arena concert and 4 per Dome concert. If you win, your credit card automatically gets charged for those tickets, if you lose, you simply lose and don’t get charged anything. Tickets are digital and you will receive an email notification from Tickebo ~3 days before the concert to download them. You will not have access to the tickets or even know your seat placement until then. They will come with a QR code that you must present for scanning at the door of the concert venue and the QR code must be displayed on the screen of a mobile device (smartphone, tablet, etc.). You can not print them out.
If you're attending with a companion and have won more than one ticket for a single venue, your companion will also be required to create a Tickebo account. This account can be made via the english site (https://ticket.tickebo.jp/pc/en/about-tb/member.html) and does not have to be a SWJ member account. It will be used to receive a ticket allotted to it via your own account. Extra tickets must be allotted. The original ticket holder can only download one ticket for themselves. Ticket allotment won't be available until you receive the tickets ~3 days prior to the concert.
*Note: Please be careful when applying for multiple concerts as you will not be able to refund any of the tickets won.
*Note 2: Due to an increase in ticket re-selling, Universal Music Japan is now enforcing RANDOM IDENTIFICATION CHECKS at the doors of concert venues. If you are not a Japanese citizen/resident please make sure to keep your PASSPORT with you at all times. They will accept NO OTHER form of identification from foreigners.
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General Admission Lottery
Often there will be a second lottery round for the public and then sometimes third lottery for restricted vision areas (i.e. extra standing space and/or sections at the very back or way to the sides). THIS is the only window of opportunity that foreigners without SWJ accounts have to get JAT/Dome concert tickets. You can do so by first making an English Tickebo account here: https://ticket.tickebo.jp/pc/en/about-tb/member.html
If there is a general admission lottery, it will not be announced until after the fanclub lottery has ended.
General admission lottery for 2018 Kyocera and Tokyo Dome:
NOT YET AVAILABLE
However, I strongly urge people not to book their flights off the assumption that they’ll be able to get tickets this way because the odds can be low. Many SWJ members who have failed to win tickets through the fanclub lottery will also attempt to get tickets this way, as well as thousands of other casual non-SWJ fans. Most of the tickets will be allotted to fanclub members as it is, so they will all be competing for a small number of leftover tickets.
The only exception to this would be Dome concerts because there are 5x the usual amount of seats so most people have been able to successfully win at least one ticket with the public lottery. The same may apply to any future Dome concerts depending on SHINee’s growth in popularity.
*Note: GA seating will be of lower quality than fanclub seating due to the lower priority/privilege level. Seating will generally be in the highest/furthest levels of the venue and potentially at angles where parts of the stage will be difficult to see.
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Yahoo! Auctions Japan and Ticketcamp Ticket Re-sellers
So let’s say you’ve failed at getting tickets through SWJ and the public lottery. Sadly, the next step is to approach a re-seller/scalper. However you’ll find that even JAT scalpers are exclusive to Japanese people. My two recommended sites are:
Yahoo Auctions Japan: http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/
Ticket Camp: CLOSED
*EDIT* Ticketcamp is currently closed while it undergoes some kind of investigation. Ticket.co.jp is said to be a replacement site for buying tickets now, but I have not yet attempted to buy tickets from there. The site appears to look and function similar to the way Ticketcamp did.
I consider both of these to be safe sites because you will be paying scalpers through an official 3rd party that will hold onto your funds until you have given confirmation that you’ve received your tickets. However, as stated earlier, even scalpers won’t have access to their tickets until ~3 days before the concert. The catch here is that both of these sites require Japanese personal information to register, and Japanese methods of payment to purchase. They will not take foreign credit cards. There will also be a certain degree of Japanese proficiency required to navigate these sites and communicate with the sellers. Please do not expect them to be able to or even want to communicate with you in English. I only mention these options in case you happen to have someone in Japan you can contact to assist you with the purchase.
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Twitter Re-sellers
This last method is also available to foreigners without Japanese connections but comes highly unrecommended. It’s Twitter re-sellers. People selling/buying tickets on twitter will do so under the 拡散希望 tag followed by other related tags such the name and date of the concert. Please make sure that the accounts you’re buying tickets from are legitimate because I personally know many people who were scammed getting tickets this way for previous concerts. Once you give them your money, there’s no guarantee that they will give you the ticket. I consider this to be a very risky and very last resort, but you can attempt it at your own risk.
*Note: In reference to a previous note about random ID checks, if you buy a ticket from a re-seller that is not in your name and get asked for ID, they will refuse you entry to the concert.
That's everything. Good luck!!!
**Note: I will not be answering any questions regarding translations for tickebo or SWJ registration as I consider both to be easily navigable via Google Translate.