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immel 5th May 2006 03:41 AM
[Tutorial] How I made it to Tokyo and Arena Tour 2006
 

Please visit the new thread here.






This post is NOT to be posted ANYWHERE else without my agreement. Thank you.

This post will be updated whenever there's a need for it, or whenever I feel like.

Coming/ongoing tours:

ASIA TOUR 2008
~10th Anniversary~

Dates in English
April 5-6, 8: Tokyo Yoyogi
April 12: Hot House Super Arena (?) (Old Grande 21 - Miyagi)
April 19: Shizouka Ecopa Arena
April 26: Fukui Sun Dome
May 5-6: Nihon Gaishi Hall (Old Nagoya Rainbow Hall)
May 10: Hiroshima Green Arena
May 16-17: Kobe World Hall
May 24-25: Osaka Jo Hall
May 31-June 1: Fukuoka Marine Messe
June 7-8: Yokohama Arena
June 17-18: Nihon Gaishi Hall (Old Nagoya Rainbow Hall)

Dates in Japanese
2008年 4月 5日 土 国立代々木競技場第一体育館 17:30 18:30
2008年 4月 6日 日 国立代々木競技場第一体育館 15:00 16:00
2008年 4月 8日 火 国立代々木競技場第一体育館 17:30 18:30
2008年 4月12日 土 ホットハウススーパーアリーナ(旧グランディ・21) 17:30 18:30
2008年 4月19日 土 静岡エコパアリーナ 17:30 18:30
2008年 4月26日 土 サンドーム福井 17:30 18:30
2008年 5月 5日 月・祝 日本ガイシホール(旧名古屋レインボーホール) 17:30 18:30
2008年 5月 6日 火・祝 日本ガイシホール(旧名古屋レインボーホール) 15:00 16:00
2008年 5月10日 土 広島グリーンアリーナ 17:30 18:30
2008年 5月16日 金 神戸ワールド記念ホール 17:30 18:30
2008年 5月17日 土 神戸ワールド記念ホール 17:30 18:30
2008年 5月24日 土 大阪城ホール 17:30 18:30
2008年 5月25日 日 大阪城ホール 15:00 16:00
2008年 5月31日 土 マリンメッセ福岡 17:30 18:30
2008年 6月 1日 日 マリンメッセ福岡 15:00 16:00
2008年 6月 7日 土 横浜アリーナ 17:30 18:30
2008年 6月 8日 日 横浜アリーナ 15:00 16:00
2008年 6月17日 火 日本ガイシホール(旧名古屋レインボーホール) 17:30 18:30
2008年 6月18日 水 日本ガイシホール(旧名古屋レインボーホール) 17:30 18:30



Table of Contents

- QUICK GUIDE
- F.A.Q.

Introduction of Me and My Trip to Tokyo

The Tutorial
- How to Get Flight Tickets
- How to Get Concert Tickets
-- How to Get Tickets Before You Arrive in Tokyo
-- How to Get Tickets when You are in Tokyo
- Price Examples and Seating References
- Where to Stay/Sleep
- How Much Money I Spent
- On Cellphones
- Links to Other Relevant Threads
- Pictures by Me and AHS Other Users
- Google Earth Locations



QUICK GUIDE
Spoiler:
Feeling unsure about if you've thought about everything? Or just curious about how much a trip to Japan in order to see Ayumi would cost you?

Here's a quick guide on what to think about and how to calculate the cost.

- Look up prices for flight tickets to Tokyo.
- If you're not staying in Tokyo, look up train costs from Tokyo (Narita) where your flight will most likely land. Don't forget about a return ticket.
- Google for hostels (Hostels is the cheaper alternative to hotels). Just go "town/area name hostels" at google.com, without the quotation marks.
- As for the concert tickets, count on 20,000 yen for a ticket and you'll be sure to get into the arena.
- For food, count on 10-20$/day you stay. Want to eat sushi every day? Count on 20-40$/day.
- For public transport, count on 5-10$/day and you're on the safe side.

- For shopping: bring as much spare cash as you feel like. This spare cash can also be used if you run out on cash in any of your other areas, such as food and so, but that shouldn't happen if you just stick to your plans, which isn't hard.

- Buying tour goods? The tour items usually range from 500-3000 yen each, use www.xe.com to exchange into your currency. Examples:
T-shirt: 1,500 yen
Towel: 1,500 yen
Light stick: 1,000 yen
Uchiwa (fan): 1,500 yen



F.A.Q.
Spoiler:
Make sure to read the entire Tutorial before you ask any questions, if there's something I'm not covering entirely or if it's unclear post here and I will try to change it.

-When are the tickets released?
Usually around 1 month before the actual performance. Tickets for April would be released in March. TeamAyu members get access to tickets a bit earlier.



Introduction of Me and My Trip to Tokyo
Spoiler:
Let me first tell you a little story about how I got into Ayu, I feel that is a good way to start this thread. The actual tutorial is further down, what you can read here first is my introduction to how this trip came to being, I would be very happy if you spent time reading it too. Thank you!

At the moment of writing I am 18 years old and from Sweden, Stockholm. My name is Martin.

5 years ago a good friend to me showed me the video of Ayu and Gack performing Silent Night together. We laughed at it, and that was it. It was the first time ever I saw or heard of Ayumi. Since about that time I've had a general interest in the Asian culture.

I have always been addicted to music, all kinds of music. After having known about Ayu for 5 years I, 3 months ago, decided that maybe I should actually listen to some of her music. Why hadn't I done so before? I had earlier automatically put her in the same category as artists like Britney Spears and such, guess if I regret that now.

The first song I listened to was evolution.

During the following few days my life sort of made a U-turn. I know I'm not, but today I really feel like and old fan of Ayu. I've seen, listened and read up on everything. I guess I'm sort of obsessed but not in an all too exaggerated way, I'm still a normal person :P.

I could keep on writing about this forever, this is an extremely short version of how I came into Ayu. But that isn't what you came here to read about, so, after this introduction, let's move on. (I'm still only at the stage of introducing the whole thing, if you only want to read the actual tutorial do so at the bottom of this post).

Around two months ago was the first time I heard about Arena Tour 2006, at that time it was around 1 month left untill it would start. Ofcourse the thought It'd be so cool going there! hit me, but it was nothing more than a thought.

A week later I accidentaly read about someone from Australia who had won two tickets for the tour. That brought back my old thought, but stronger, I really wanted to go aswell. I started researching on how much going to, and staying in, Tokyo would cost, mostly because I wanted to know, I still did not have any real plans on going. I spent one month just looking things up, through the Internet. My mom thought I was funny with all my talk about going to Tokyo.

I started realising this dream was actually possible to fullfill, now it wasn't only about going to see Ayu live, I became obsessed with the idea of going to Tokyo, alone, at the age of 18. I wanted to feel free, I wanted to see if I could really do this on my own.

The days passed and I kept up my research, my parents was first against the idea, as I would be using all my money I had saved up for the trip. The days passed, the first performances at the Saitama Arena came and went. Then it happened... SunshineSlayer posted her review of the concert. That was the final blow, I had to go to Tokyo. My parents still wouldn't allow me to, but they became fascinated with my persistence and that I kept up with my research even though they had already said no.

I contacted a friend, because I was actually a bit worried about travelling all alone. He was unsure on if he wanted to go or not.

Then, one thursday morning, 20 days or so before the performances in Yoyogi I told my parents; I'm ordering tickets to Tokyo now, I'll be leaving in 7 days. I was quite surprised when their reply was Oh, okay. I guess they had gotten used to the idea over time and didn't have the heart to stop me when I had put down so much work at planning this. My friend hooked on the last second and we went together. I sort of wanted to go alone so what we did was more or less to split up when we arrived and spent most of our time trying to get lost in Tokyo on our own, but what I did while I was in Tokyo is another story, now lets go on to the the actual HOW TO... part.



How to Make it to Tokyo, See Ayumi Hamasaki Live and Get Back in One Piece

Use www.xe.com to translate the numbers into any currency you like. Any time the $-sign is used it refers to American dollars. € refers to European Euro.


Flight Tickets
Spoiler:
This part was simple, there are several pages that compare travelling with different companies. I used www.pricerunner.com. My two-way flight ticket to Tokyo, Narita from Stockholm, Arlanda cost me 750€. I flew with British Airways they were, I guess still are, the cheapest company to fly with, by far. Also they have a good standard, I enjoyed the food, especially the cup noodles :).

Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer
Just want to interject here, that if you live in a city with a large Asian population there should be at least one Asian travel agency. They will have the cheapest rates to Japan. I can't remember the exact price of my ticket, but it was less than $650 roundtrip.


Concert Tickets
Spoiler:
I got one of my tickets before I went to Tokyo, for the performance at the 22/4. I knew the location of one ticket re-seller store before I went, I decided I would get the 23/4 ticket when I arrived there.

I've written some on this before so I will copy a lot of that to here, also I will use/quote/link to the guide that SunshineSlayer wrote.


How to Get Tickets Before You Arrive in Tokyo

www.fdjp.com. From here I got my tickets for the first performance. I bought block B1 front row tickets, they were 26000 yen each. FDJP charges an additional 30% for handling if you buy things from a store (for example a reseller store), the handling cost is less if you use them to buy through auction pages. They ship via EMS parcel so the order should reach you within 4 to 5 days no matter where in the world you live.

http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp. This is the best place to get concert tickets, one of Japans biggest auction pages, lots of concert tickets up here. See following entries for more information of buying through Yahoo Auctions Japan.
Troubles you will encounter when using Yahoo Auctions Japan (Do not despair, there's services that will help you with tackling those):
The page is entirely in Japanese, you will have to be able to read and understand Japanese in order to use it.
In over 99% of the cases sellers ship only within Japan, not world wide.

Extensive guide to using Yahoo Auctions: http://www.ffmusic.info/yjtutorial.html

www.akibado.com. A page through which you can bid on Japanese auction pages, such as http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp. Akibado charge some extra and will handle everything and ship the items to you.

http://celga.com. A page like akibado, but according to someone I know this place is a lot more effective, with very nice staff and quick replies to emails.

http://rinkya.com. Another page which I know that people have been using with satisfaction, I heard they are a little more expensive than celga.com but they are also more popular.

Having a friend in Japan. You could ask this friend to go to a ticket reseller store and buy tickets for you, which he could either mail or hand over to you when you arrive. Possibly you could have this friend call and buy tickets on the official release date. Maybe you could even join Team Ayu through him/her and preorder tickets.

How to Get Tickets when You are in Tokyo

Ok, SunshineSlayer has already covered this very good in the How to get Ayumi Hamasaki concert tickets thread thread page 2, I will quote what she wrote to here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer
Ok, how you get concert tickets: (many of these have already been mentioned here)

1. The official way - Just forget it, it ain't gonna happen if you aren't living in Japan and you likely will not be able to get the very best seats because they all go to fan club members and foreigners can not join the fanclub. So just resign yourself to that. :)

4. THE BEST way to get tickets is to not get them until you are actually in Japan. It sounds very risky, I know. If you are flying to Japan and getting a hotel room and spending all that money just to see Ayu live, you would generally like to have the tickets first so that you know for sure you are going. But trust me that this way is the easiest, least confusing, and ultimately cheapest way to go.

If your concert is in Tokyo or the surrounding area (Yokohama, Saitama, Chiba, Tochigi etc) what you want to do is go to a ticket reseller shop in Harajuku. It's very easy to find since it is on the famous Takashita Dori st.(famous for its crepes, fasion, and idol shops.) On the Tokyo Metro system, take the green Chiyoda line to the Meiji-Jingumae stop. Exit the station and you should see a big store across the street called Snoopy Town.(this is a cool place to check out since it has more Snoopy merchandise than anywhere in the US.^_^) Cross the street to Snoopy Town and then continue down the sidewalk to the left. Soon you will see Takashita Dori on the right. (You really can't miss it, there is a big archway over the start of the street that says Takashita Dori) It's a narrow crowded street filled with Idol shops that sell every photo, key chain, pen etc with Ayumi, Gackt, MM, L'arc and zillions of boy bands on them - Don't spend all of your money before you get to the Ayumi tickets! lol. About 3/4s of the way down the street there will be a lingerie store called LOVX on your left.(don't confuse it with the LOVX building that will be on your right about 1/2 way down the street. That store just sells cosmetics.) There are a set of stairs in front that lead up to the second level of the LOVX building and inside of there is concert ticket mecca. They have tickets for sale for every major concert tour currently going on as well as sell tour goods from past tours, all in glass displays, so you can easily pick out what you want. Best of all, the prices are reasonable. I actually paid less at that shop for Ayu tickets than I did through Yahoo!Auctions and the seats were comprable. Also, as the concert gets closer they will seriously mark down tickets that haven't sold yet. I saw one 400 level ticket that they had for the Saitama show which hadn't sold yet(the concert was the next day) and they were selling it for 3000 yen! Pretty amazing considering that the ticket originally cost 7,800. They have tickets for all over Japan, but obviously the area they are the most well stocked for is the Tokyo area.

Much Japanese isn't required to buy the tickets. You can simply point to the one you want and they'll get what you mean. Of course speaking at least some Japanese is helpful, but you should be able to get by mainly on gestures and their limited English ability. :)

So if you want to go to a concert in or around Tokyo all you need to be thinking about is that shop in Harajuku. :) It's easily the best option.

5. The last option are scalpers. Your likely to pay more, but usually they are better seats. For example, I had 2 tickets for the Sun. Saitama performance - both were for the 400 level(far back from the stage). So I found a scalper and traded my 2 400 level tickets for 1 200 level ticket + I had to pay 3000 yen. You generally don't have to try and spot the scalpers. If your concert is one of the main ones(like Saitama, Yoyogi, Osaka) they will be waiting to pounce on you just as you leave the train station. Authorities must not care about scalpers because they do it wide out in the open and very obviously. It's worth noting though that I didn't see any scalpers at the Hiroshima show last year. However, they were all over the Saitama show this year. For this option it's good to at least know how to count in Japanese and know what 'man' and 'sen' yen mean, that way you can bargain with them. As I found out, this is also an excellent option if you already have your tickets but want a better seat.
It should be mentioned that I did not see any scalper present at any of the performances at the Yoyogi Stadium at the 4/22 or 4/23.

This was posted by oro77, who went to one of the last performances in June and planned to go to the absolute last one at 6/11, depending on the price for the tickets:
Quote:
Originally Posted by oro77
The tickets were to expensive, I went to Harajuku in front of the stadium (1 hour before the concert), they told me 20 000 yen for 1 ticket (or 15 000). Maybe they increased the price because I'm gaijin... I asked for 5 000 yen ticket lol.
Additional information by SunshineSlayer:

Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer (Post 987570)
Anyways, I have a another reseller shop for immel to add to the list. It's called Ticket World (written in katakana) and is located in Shinjuku. It's hard for me to say exactly where as Shinjuku is crazy, but it's down one of the main streets after exiting the Tokyo metro station and is on the right hand side of the road. It's smaller than the Harajuku and Ueno ones and was extremely crowded when I went. (this was the night of the 30th and everyone was trying to get Ayu tickets at the last minute.)
I wrote this on how to get concert tickets in my Arena Tour 2006 Review thread:

Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
You buy them when you get there, from ticket reseller stores. I knew the location of one before I went to Tokyo, I found 4 other while I was there. You are more or less GUARANTEED to get a ticket, even if you buy them the same day as the concert is. I arrived 2 weeks before the concert and bought the tickets a few days before them. You can use FDJP if you want the tickets in your hand before you go there.



Price Examples and Seating References
Spoiler:
Reference Picture 1. Thank you soysaucestar.
Reference Picture 2
The set up in ARENA TOUR 2006 is not exactly the same as in those pictures, there is a catwalk with a center stage as well.

These are all examples of differently priced tickets I saw while I was in Tokyo at various reseller stores.

Arena/Center (The central floor right in front of the stage)
A-block front row tickets: 75000 yen +/- 15000 yen. (I didn't actually see any A-block tickets for sale while in Tokyo, but this is a qualified guess after looking at other artists, with similar pricing at their tickets, where those seats existed).
A-block tickets: 30-35000 yen.
B-block tickets: 20-26000 yen.
C-block tickets: 13-20000 yen.
D-block tickets: 10-15000 yen.


Elevated Positions
K1 front row tickets: 30-40000 yen.
Really Bad tickets: 6-7000 yen (Yes, lower than the original price).


If the reseller stores has any tickets left the same day as or a few hours before the performance chances are that the prices of them will be reduced drastically.

Pictures of tickets in the reseller stores, taken by me:
Takeshita Street (Harajuku): Click
Somewhere in Shibuya: Click
Ueno: Click


Where to Stay/Sleep
Spoiler:
This was my biggest problem at first, I found it very hard to find a place to stay for a decent price per night. I didn't want to stay at a hotel in central Tokyo for 120$/night, if I didn't find a solution to it I would have been unable to go.

My savior became http://www.hihostels.com/. Youth Hostels are cheap and functional places to stay. You can read a lot more about them on the page.

If you plan to stay at a Youth Hostel you do in many cases need a IYHA (International Youth Hostel Association) membership card, for more info on how to obtain one go here. Having this card makes it possible to stay at more places and much cheaper to stay at many of the hostels.

If you are going to a performance in Tokyo, Yoyogi, I can recommend Yoyogi Youth Hostel. It's located a cozy 10-15 minute walk, through Yoyogi Kouen, from Harajuku, Shibuya and the Yoyogi Stadium itself. At 3000 yen per night it's a bargain. The staff speaks great english and the place is extremely fresh. My stay there was very pleasant. My room at the YH.

When looking at a YH to stay at, always read all the information you can find on the hostels homepage as well as the hihostels.com homepage because many of them have strict rules that you have to follow, like curfew.

Another option is the Capsule Hotels, I had intentionally planned my trip so that for 3 night I would have no where to sleep, I wanted to see if I could solve that on my own when I was in Tokyo. I tried a Capsule Hotel for 2 of the nights, it cost me 3000 yen per night. It was fresh, if only a bit hot in the "sleeping capsule". You'll have access to public shower and bath and bathroom. All Capsule Hotels does not accept female guests. The third night I went back to the YH.


How Much Did I Spend?
Spoiler:
Flight: 750€
Hotel: 3000 yen/day (about 280€ for 2 weeks)
Food: 800-2000 yen/day (for 1500 yen/day you can eat like a king) (150€)
Concert Tickets: 35000 yen + 10000 yen (300€)

Total for 2 weeks:
1480€

I shopped up another 1400€ when I was there too.

If all you want to do is see Ayu you can always choose to stay only 1 week instead, that would halve the price for food and hotel. If you live in Europe you could get away with around 1000€ for a week in Tokyo + seeing Ayu live, but then you're doing NO shopping and eating cheap food (the cheap food is the best food in Tokyo anyway ^_^).



On Cellphones
Spoiler:
Quote:
Originally Posted by mercuryspice
on the cell phone thing... almost all phone made today have 3 gms signals (or called TriBand phones).. and you can buy unlocked versions of almost any phone. An unlocked phone means it has 4 gms (or QuadBand) signals and can be used on any cell phone service worldwide. I have the Motorola RAZR, it has 3 gms signals, and can be used worldwide. It is called a world capable phone. You will have to call your service provider to find out their international rates for the country you are going to. I have Cingular Wireless and they charge $1.25 for any out going call I make while in Japan. The rates for incoming calls are the same as the American rates. Text messages are .10 cents for incoming and .50 cents for out going while in Japan. I live in America BTW.
With technology now, you can use just about any phone in any country, regardless of where you bought it and live.




_______________________________________

Other Relevant Discussion Threads About Going to Japan/Tokyo/Arena Tour/CDL
immels How to get around Tokyo? thread (from before I went): Click
Coryboborys World Tour 2006: Japan thread: Click
The "How to get Ayumi Hamasaki concert tickets" thread: Click

Other Links
Bringing a camera inside the arena: Click
SunshineSlayers Arena Tour 2006 Review: Click
tethevos Arena Tour 2006 Review: Click
immels Arena Tour 2006 Review: Click
oro77s AT2006 review: Click
immels Arena Tour 2006 Cam Download Thread: Click
oro77s words on COUNTDOWN LIVE 2006-2007 A: Click

Pictures
Spoiler:
A few pictures taken by me
Yoyogi National Stadium: Click
What Tokyo started looking like the last few days before I left (Harajuku JR Station): Click

Pictures taken by other users who went to ARENA TOUR 2006
oro77 went there for the 6/8 performance, thank you for sharing your pictures with us!
Picture of the Stadium: Click
Tour goods: Click
Tour goods: Click
ayupan shop: Click
Flyer: Click
Flyer back cover 1: Click
Flyer back cover 2: Click
Arena Tour 2006 Fan: Click



Google Earth Locations
Spoiler:
Yoyogi Kouen (Yoyogi Park).
Yoyogi National Stadium.
Yoyogi Youth Hostel.
Bridge /crossing in Harajuku where all the cosplayers are at Sundays.
Omote Sandou and Aoyama Dori crossing.
Location of ticket reseller store in Ueno. Compare this one with the location of Ueno JR station (the exit is under the bridge).

This is just above Shibuya 109, if you zoom out or scroll down a bit you will see the building a little lower down on your screen, characterized by the circle tower. It might be a little hard to see because the picture is so bad quality, but the re-seller store is on one of the 3 streets on the picture, I don't remember which one when I see it from above.
Ticket re-seller store in Shibuya. Compare this to famous Shibuya crossing and entrance/exit to Shibuya JR Station.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer (Post 987570)
Anyways, I have a another reseller shop for immel to add to the list. It's called Ticket World (written in katakana) and is located in Shinjuku. It's hard for me to say exactly where as Shinjuku is crazy, but it's down one of the main streets after exiting the Tokyo metro station and is on the right hand side of the road. It's smaller than the Harajuku and Ueno ones and was extremely crowded when I went. (this was the night of the 30th and everyone was trying to get Ayu tickets at the last minute.)
If you want any other locations just ask.
_______________________________________





If a "Thank You" is posted in this thread I want to direct it to the people that has helped me realizing this dream, anyone who answered my questions, inspired me or wrote a guide.

A big THANKS goes to SunshineSlayer, Corybobory, Jo-chan, tethevo and many other who I can't recall by name or nickname right now! :)

This summary was brought to you by me.

Thank you very much for spending your time reading this, I really hope it will help and/or inspire someone.
Martin

sexysaucestar 5th May 2006 03:56 AM
Wow, really great, comprehensive guide. You look cute in that last picture, hehe ;)

It's always good to have a friend in Japan to help you out--probably if I didn't have my friend helping me on Yahoo Auctions I would have gone the ticket re-seller's way.

ph33r 5th May 2006 04:08 AM
Now I really want to go. But I have no money. =\
But thanks for tutorial, maybe I'll refer back to it a few years =P

immel 5th May 2006 04:49 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by soysaucestar
Wow, really great, comprehensive guide. You look cute in that last picture, hehe ;)
Thank you :D


Congratulations on 3000 posts!

AyuGAME 5th May 2006 06:10 AM
nice thread
inspire me very much

SunshineSlayer 5th May 2006 08:04 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by immel

I have always been addicted to music, all kinds of music. After having known about Ayu for 5 years I, 3 months ago, decided that maybe I should actually listen to some of her music. Why hadn't I done so before? I had earlier automatically put her in the same category as artists like Britney Spears and such, guess if I regret that now.
Wow, only 3 months? Impressive. :) I actually had only known about Ayu for less than a year when I first went to see her. But that's kind of how you have to do it: you make the comitment to go and then just GO, or else you may never do it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
The days passed and I kept up my research, my parents was first against the idea, as I would be using all my money I had saved up for the trip. The days passed, the first performances at the Saitama Arena came and went. Then it happened... SunshineSlayer posted her review of the concert. That was the final blow, I had to go to Tokyo.
Thanks for mentioning me! I hope all my advice helped. Oh, and you can pm me again now - I cleaned out my mail box. :)



Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
This part was simple, there are several pages that compare travelling with different companies. I used www.pricerunner.com. My two-way flight ticket to Tokyo, Narita from Stockholm, Arlanda cost me 750€.
Just want to interject here, that if you live in a city with a large Asian population there should be at least one Asian travel agency. They will have the cheapest rates to Japan. I can't remember the exact price of my ticket, but it was less than $650 roundtrip.

Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
I got one of my tickets before I went to Tokyo, for the performance at the 22/4. I knew the location of one ticket re-seller store before I went, I decided I would get the 23/4 ticket when I arrived there.
Don't do the same mistake as me, I got my ticket before I went to Tokyo. I did so because I wanted to have them in my hand before I actually went. It's a total waste of cash.
Yep, I believe I talked about that in my thread. You end up spending an unnecassary amount if you buy your tickets online. But I know that it seems too scary to go to Japan without already having tickets in your hand. :)

Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
Akibado charge some extra and then ship it home to you. I don't know how much they charge, I've never used them.
I e-mailed them once asking if they could ship to a hotel in Tokyo and I never recieved a reply, so I don't know how reliable they are.

Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
Next year I will have contacts in Japan that can join Team Ayu for me, I'm looking forward so much to that :).
I made some contacts for Morning Musume, so yay for me! :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by immel

It should be mentioned that I did not see any scalper present at any of the performances at the Yoyogi Arena.
Maybe they hide it better at Yoyogi or crackdown more on scalpers there? Or they could have been at the train station. All I know is, they were at Saitama all over the place the second that you exited the train station.

Also, could you try to give directions for where you found the Shibuya reseller? Because I was looking for some around there but came up empty.


Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
Another option is the Capsule Hotels, I had intentionally planned my trip so that for 3 night I would have no where to sleep, I wanted to see if I could
solve that on my own when I was in Tokyo.
You're crazy. lol

sexysaucestar 5th May 2006 08:23 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer
Maybe they hide it better at Yoyogi or crackdown more on scalpers there? Or they could have been at the train station. All I know is, they were at Saitama all over the place the second that you exited the train station.
They might have cracked down on scalpers in recent years at Yoyogi--when my friend and I went to CDL 04-05, there were tons of scalpers at Yoyogi. But yeah, when I attended the Arena concert on 4/22, there weren't any around. :shrug

Corybobory 5th May 2006 09:34 AM
Yay that was so fun to read!! I so glad you had a good time. That's some really really useful information :) Thank you!! I booked 6 days at the Yoyogi Hostel, and I'll be there in 10 days!! You sound so adventurous, purposly not having a place to stay for a few nights and seeing what will happen :) I'm paranoid and want my itinerary set in stone... although where I'll be and when is far from planned as of yet! It would be amazing to see an Ayu concert, I hope I get to do that one day. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!!!

fεяnαndδ 5th May 2006 11:44 AM
Wow! Comprehensive. :)

hallelujah_united 5th May 2006 12:57 PM
I'm going to add this to "Favourites". For future planning.

Arena Tour 2007 wait for me!!! :yatta

alternarist 5th May 2006 01:20 PM
wehee!! this gave me some hope! i wish i can go to arena tour 2007!! thanks for the useful guide!

Lumix 5th May 2006 01:45 PM
thanks ;)

nmskalmn 5th May 2006 02:48 PM
Thanks for writing the tutorial immel. :)

I hope it will be helpful to many members.

walking proud 5th May 2006 04:07 PM
Thanks! I hope to go to arena tour 2008 (Will there be one!?)

immel 6th May 2006 02:30 PM
Google Earth locations added.

ayu-marco 6th May 2006 03:30 PM
wow
Thanks a lot.
I have bade 2 tickets from yahoo! Japan auction
They are B6 zone. The prices are 32000 yen (not including money transfer and posting fee) for 2 tickets
I will fly to see ayu on 10 June!!!

Nikki 6th May 2006 03:38 PM
Thanks for sharing! Even though I'm not going to Japan anytime soon (or ever) I enjoyed reading it :)

stardusties 6th May 2006 03:56 PM
gosh!! thank you soo much! I could have never figured this out on my own! especially finding the cheapest way to do everything <3

but one question...I'm plannning for CDL07-08 ...would the ticket thing work there too? =\...i'll be arriving in Japan like ...the week of the december 20th or something

sexysaucestar 6th May 2006 03:59 PM
^ CDL tickets are harder to get, but I think you should still be able to buy them from resellers' shops as well.

destiny_ayu 6th May 2006 04:23 PM
Wow.. thanks for the tutorial.

The price of the ticket really scared me off.
26,000.00 JPY = 230.957 USD

:thud

sexysaucestar 6th May 2006 04:51 PM
^ That IS quite pricey...but I suppose some people will pay any amount to see Ayu up close (arena seating). And for most people, they believe they will only see Ayu once....so paying a hefty price like that is worth it to those people.

perfectdeath 6th May 2006 05:05 PM
wow, thats really interesting. you must be a very confident person... and be able to adjust well to new environments.

do concert tickets really cost that much? i converted it to australian dollars and it came out as AUD $200+. that seems like alot

anyway, thanks for all the info! might come in handy for me one day (hopefully)

immel 6th May 2006 05:26 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardusties
gosh!! thank you soo much! I could have never figured this out on my own! especially finding the cheapest way to do everything <3

but one question...I'm plannning for CDL07-08 ...would the ticket thing work there too? =\...i'll be arriving in Japan like ...the week of the december 20th or something
As you arrive around 10 days before the performance I belive it would work, but personally I doubt if I would dare go without a ticket in my hand when it was for a CDL performance. There are so few tickets and they are very sought after.

Something you can do is bid on a ticket on auctions and have them shipped to the address you'll be arriving at when you go to Japan.

Arriving 2 weeks before the performance I guess it would be OK. 10 days I feel is a bit too little to be 110% sure you'll get the tickets you want.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ayu-marco
wow
Thanks a lot.
I have bade 2 tickets from yahoo! Japan auction
They are B6 zone. The prices are 32000 yen (not including money transfer and posting fee) for 2 tickets
I will fly to see ayu on 10 June!!!
Did you plan this earlier or was it thanks to this thread? :)

ayu-marco 6th May 2006 05:53 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
Did you plan this earlier or was it thanks to this thread? :)
I planned for 1 month and was very trouble how to get the tickets. I asked lots of friends. They told me some of their friends had flied to see ayu concert. They got the tickets by biding in yahoo! Japan auctions.

immel 6th May 2006 06:17 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ayu-marco
I planned for 1 month and was very trouble how to get the tickets. I asked lots of friends. They told me some of their friends had flied to see ayu concert. They got the tickets by biding in yahoo! Japan auctions.
I'm very happy that you, too, will be able to go to an Ayumi performance!

Quote:
Originally Posted by perfectdeath
wow, thats really interesting. you must be a very confident person... and be able to adjust well to new environments.

do concert tickets really cost that much? i converted it to australian dollars and it came out as AUD $200+. that seems like alot

anyway, thanks for all the info! might come in handy for me one day (hopefully)
Yes, they cost that much from re-seller stores. You can look at the pictures I linked too if you want to see how the prices look, you can see one pair that go for 50'000 yen. The highest ones I saw was K1-front row tickets, at 78'000 yen for a pair.

ayu_fan929 8th May 2006 03:57 AM
Wow! Thanks for this tutorial! I'm thinking about going to Japan next year for Arena Tour 2007. But not entirely sure if I still have enough money. Those ticket prices are expensive! But I guess for me it's going to be like a once in a lifetime chance, so I think it'll be worth the money. Thanks for the tutorial again!

immel 11th May 2006 10:02 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ayu_fan929
Wow! Thanks for this tutorial! I'm thinking about going to Japan next year for Arena Tour 2007. But not entirely sure if I still have enough money. Those ticket prices are expensive! But I guess for me it's going to be like a once in a lifetime chance, so I think it'll be worth the money. Thanks for the tutorial again!
It will be worth it, definately. :).

Thank's to the one who stickied my thread :love !

Daking 13th May 2006 10:21 AM
That's some awesome work u did there, i really admire ur determination more than anything else. Sounds like something i have to go do sometime.

oro77 14th May 2006 12:15 PM
Hello,

I'm new here. I intend to go to Arena Tour 2006 but I don't have the date and the place where it will be. Do you have a site with the list ?

I would also like to know if the concert is during the afternoon or the night, I prefer the night because I may be busy during the afternoon. I saw people taking photos during the concert, is it allowed ?

I'm staying for 3 months, I hope I will have the opportunity to see Ayu !
I don't speak Japanese very well (beginner)

I don't have a lot of money so I don't know how much I can spend for the tickets, it seems expensive but it may be my only chance to see Ayu. (10 000 or 13 000 yens, donno what is my limit)

Thanks in advance,

immel 14th May 2006 12:46 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by nmskalmn
ayumi hamasaki ARENA TOUR 2006 A ~(miss)understood~
11 March 2006 - Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Shin-toshin
12 March 2006 - Saitama Super Arena, Saitama Shin-toshin
18 March 2006 - Nagano Big-Hat, Nagano
19 March 2006 - Nagano Big-Hat, Nagano
25 March 2006 - Shizuoka Ecopa Arena, Shizuoka
26 March 2006 - Shizuoka Ecopa Arena, Shizuoka
1 April 2006 - Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka
2 April 2006 - Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka
8 April 2006 - Makomanai Ice Arena, Sapporo
9 April 2006 - Makomanai Ice Arena, Sapporo
13 April 2006 - Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka
15 April 2006 - Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka
16 April 2006 - Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka
22 April 2006 - National Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo
23 April 2006 - National Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo
29 April 2006 - Hiroshima Green Arena, Hiroshima
30 April 2006 - Hiroshima Green Arena, Hiroshima
5 May 2006 - Sun Arena, Ise
6 May 2006 - Sun Arena, Ise
13 May 2005 - Toki Messe, Niigata
14 May 2005 - Toki Messe, Niigata
20 May 2005 - Grande 21, Rifu
21 May 2005 - Grande 21, Rifu
24 May 2005 - Nagoya Rainbow Hall, Nagoya
25 May 2005 - Nagoya Rainbow Hall, Nagoya
31 May 2006 - Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka
1 June 2006 - Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka
8 June 2006 - National Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo
10 June 2006 - National Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo
11 June 2006 - National Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo
Here you can read about the cameras.

Good luck :)!

oro77 14th May 2006 01:26 PM
Thanks a lot for the help :)

Do you know if the concert is happening during afternoon or night ?

EDIT : Anyway 10 & 11 is week end :)

immel 15th May 2006 09:35 PM
Sorry for the late reply, here are the opening hours for when they start letting people inside the arena:
6/8: 17:30
6/10: 17:30
6/11: 16:00

The actual show starts one hour later:
6/8: 18:30
6/10: 18:30
6/11: 17:00

I updated the first post with the full schedule for this year.

Zacek 16th May 2006 05:00 AM
Thank you very much for all this info... it's pure gold to me.

Zacek 18th May 2006 08:15 AM
I'll be there in the 2008 tour, are you going too? Maybe we can go together!

immel 18th May 2006 10:44 AM
I will be on every tour I can get the money for, AT 2007, cdl 2k7-2k8, AT 2008 etc.

There's lots of people that I know who will try to go the coming years, it'll be great I belive.

Let's just hope she doesn't quit too soon :).

oro77 22nd May 2006 12:16 PM
For AT2006 (8-11 June) , which day should I buy the ticket ? I know how to buy the ticket but I prefer going with a japanese friend to help me :)

sexysaucestar 22nd May 2006 12:18 PM
^ Whichever day there are still tickets available for; is your friend in Japan right now?

Traxism 23rd May 2006 06:01 PM
Thanks for all the help, in this guide :)

[ Melinda ] 24th May 2006 05:49 PM
Thank you so much for writing this. I almost started to cry while reading it XD You were really brave for doing all that. Going to Japan and seeing Ayu and/or L'Arc~en~Ciel live is my biggest dream, It's quite impossible for me to do but I'm ready to work for it, and maybe someday it will become possible. And that day I'm sure this will help me more. ^__^

immel 24th May 2006 07:47 PM
Thanks for the wonderful comment [ Melinda ], I'm very happy you feel like that! :love

oro77 26th May 2006 12:55 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by soysaucestar
^ Whichever day there are still tickets available for; is your friend in Japan right now?
Ok thx :)
My japanese friends are often busy, so they may not have time to buy me ticket :p

sexysaucestar 27th May 2006 04:16 AM
^ Aw, that's a bummer. Well, maybe next year then? :)

Dustie 30th May 2006 09:14 PM
I'm a bit confused.

How much do the tickets cost? One post it says it's ~7,000 yen to even 3,000 yen when it's the last day. The other says it's ~30,-20,000 yen. It's a big difference, am I mistaking something?....

immel 30th May 2006 09:27 PM
You'll see the really low prices a few hours before the actual performance. Apart from that you can refer to my prices in the original post, when it comes to resellers. Auction prices is a bit different, check http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/ for them, just do a search for Arena Tour 2006.

The reseller store tickets range from around 7000-75000 yen each depending on seats and how long it's left for the performance.

Dustie 1st June 2006 04:08 PM
Ah, I see, that's what i thought... I guess the longer I wait, the lower the price is, but also, the smaller is the possibility to get some good places, right?...

immel 1st June 2006 04:16 PM
^That is correct. Also, if you are going to a sought after performance, for example the last performance of an Arena Tour or a CDL, the chances is that you might not get any tickets if you wait, because they sell out fast.

In general the prices drop slowly the closer to the performance that you get, but on the very same day as the performance the price drop will be drastic.

Hamasaki_Vaan 1st June 2006 04:56 PM
OOhh กก Thank you very mux กกก Im planning to go to Tokyo next yar, and i wanna go to the next ayu Tour, You have helped me a lot กก Arigatooou ^___^

oro77 5th June 2006 02:03 PM
Yep I got some tickets via Yahoo Auctions, my japanese friend did it for me, but I don't know how much it costed but it shouldn't be that expensive. Not very good seats (2nd floor) but I want to go to Ayumi concert :) !

I'm so happy ! 3 days left before it !!:yes

immel 5th June 2006 03:41 PM
I hope you will have a great time! You can't imagine how much I envy you being able to go to one of the June performances :P.

*wants to go to the last performance so bad*

oro77 6th June 2006 03:32 AM
For all (miss)understood (Arena Tour 2006) concerts, is it always the same songs ? I mean is it possible for Ayu to perform : Blue Bird or Beautiful Fighter ?:mischief

Corybobory 6th June 2006 06:56 AM
I took a picture of one of those ticket places selling an Ayu ticket for the 8th for 6000￥ but I`m going home the day before that, noooo :(

immel 6th June 2006 09:33 AM
Aww, so sad you're missing it by so little :(. I really hope you've had a great time Cory!

I'd be very happy if you'd allow me to add that picture to my first post.

sexysaucestar 6th June 2006 11:05 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corybobory
I took a picture of one of those ticket places selling an Ayu ticket for the 8th for 6000￥ but I`m going home the day before that, noooo :(
Yeah, it sucks that you miss it by a day.....:( But! At least you've had fun :yes Chillin' with me twice couldn't have been too bad right....:P

Corybobory 7th June 2006 01:47 AM
^True Dat!!! And you get to go to an Ayu concert soon, Im so jealous!!!

Immel: sure Ill let you put the pic up :) Theres no picture of Ayu and its all in Japanese, but I was excited nonetheless when I saw it hahaha... it was really busy and I think people were like `why is that wierd girl taking pictures...` but that`s been the story of my life for the last 3 weeks....!!!

Blasterion 7th June 2006 02:15 AM
wow that's just so amazing :)

can't wait to take pictures and then have ppl staring at me..
it wouldn't care at all....*sigh* next year...

lol ;)

oro77 7th June 2006 11:16 PM
Finally I will get to see Ayu today ! I'm so excited :yes
I bought my tickets wia Yahoo Auctions, so I will have bad seats (2nd floor) but it was so cheap (less than 3 000 yen). Hope I will enjoy the concert :D

immel 7th June 2006 11:25 PM
You've got to tell us about it afterwards ya know!

If you pass by the LOVX Building at Takeshita Street, could you maybe take some pictures of the Ayu tickets/items for sale there (they are immediately at the entrance)? Thank you :).

I hope you'll have a GREAT time!

oro77 8th June 2006 12:44 AM
If it's not too expensive, I think I will take some goods :) I will take some pictures

EDIT :
The concert was really awesome !! First one, and I hope not the last I will see ! I'm a fan of Ayumi since only few years so I think it's a good experience :)

I took pictures of some goods at the entrance of the stadium, I guess it's not what you asked ...
I apologize first, I know I'm a bad photographer.

http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0002.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0003.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0004.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0005.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0006.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0007.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0008.JPG

I only bought the fan, I'm poor and I think it's the most classic goods :)
I think I would buy the cap if it was the normal logo, I don't like this one with the heart (too feminine)
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0001.JPG

Blasterion 8th June 2006 04:48 PM
wow really nice pics, thanks for sharing :)
I can't wait to take pics myself,
awesome looking stadium too.

and man, lots of stuff for sale, just for one tour,
you'd better bring lots of cash with ya :D
so how long did you stay outside at the stands,
looking at all the goods before going in?

and yeah I really dig that fan, looks awesome
so did you wave like crazy to the beat during the show?


;)

immel 8th June 2006 05:30 PM
Awesome :). So much memories... the pictures look so much like mine, I wonder why XD;

Haha, I will add links to all pictures in the first post, thank you oro77 and I'm extremely happy for you being able to go and see her!

Ow, and sorry! I completely missed your question!
Quote:
Originally Posted by oro77
For all (miss)understood (Arena Tour 2006) concerts, is it always the same songs ? I mean is it possible for Ayu to perform : Blue Bird or Beautiful Fighter ?:mischief
She has changed songs before, during Arena Tour 2005 she exchanged Trauma for STEP you. She did that much earlier than the last performances though, so if she didn't sing BLUE BIRD or Beautiful Fighters today I belive she will not change any of the songs for this year. Also, when I was at the performance I found it hard to see which song in the encore they would pick out to fit it in.

oro77 8th June 2006 11:47 PM
Yoyogi Stadium is really huge, it may be the first time I see so many people for a concert, I have been few (very few) concert in France and Denmark, it was not so crowded ! I also appreciated the dispostion of the seats, I was to the 2nd floor, I thought I couldn't see anything but I could see Ayu (little from a bit far) but I could see all the stage :)

About the songs, I don't remember which one were played (as I said I'm a new fan and don't know Ayu enough, shame on me)

the first was :

- Born To Be ... : Ayu appeared in a red flower, beautiful !!
- old song, I forgot which one :headache
- evolution (I'm not sure the right order) it is one of my favorite song, it was so good but I would prefer to hear this song near the end :)

Then I don't remenber which songs were performed but there were :
Bold And Delicious, Step You, (miss)understood, Pride, Ladies Night, alterna, Startin'...

After a little break, very good accoustic of :
- HEAVEN
- Teens

Another break with Ayumi speach, I didn't get the details of the story, if someone could tell me more about the story with the 2 showers (with keys?) in Osaka, and what she answered about the name of Peko, Princess and Ayumi.

I'm not sure of the order, I think Ayu taught us The "Humming 7/4's Everybody Go, everybody jump !!", I thought it was kind of boring when I listened the mp3 (live) but the real thing is so fun lol !! Everybody Go, everybody jump !!
There were more old songs then expected, like Unite ! and Boys and Girls (near the end) The last song ig Beautiful Day, really great performance !

Just one thing, I don't remember hearing fairyland, strange, maybe I'm wrong

immel 9th June 2006 05:19 AM
That song you can't remember the name of was AUDIENCE.

I agree that humming 7/4 is a lot more fun when it's heard live, I belive many who don't appreciate the song very much would love it after hearing it live!

She didn't perform fairyland in Arena Tour 2006 :).

Thank you for your little review! I will link to it in the first post aswell. Let's hope you can go to the last performance, you'll have a small chance to be in the DVD if you do :yes.

oro77 17th July 2006 04:43 PM
I was wondering when the sales for Countdown 2006 will begin. I intend to go if I am in Japan. I heard it was quite difficult to get these tickets, I didn't find posts for CDL. Can someone give me informations ? (place? date and price?)

I intend to buy tickets by Yahoo Auctions but I need to know "normal" price.
Thank you,

immel 17th July 2006 08:55 PM
^There's no date released yet, the concert has not been announced, there's nothing speaking for that there will actually be any this year, but I still think there'll be one.

The ticket release will be announced in time on Ayus official homepage, I belive they'll be released like 2 months before the concert for TeamAyu members and 1 month before for non members, if no one else does you can be sure that I will post about their release date both in this thread and in the News section.

As soon as the tickets has been released they'll most likely appear regularly on Yahoo Auctions, just wait untill you see one or a pair you really want and go for it. The price for CDL tickets will probably be a bit higher than for the Arena Tour ones, because they're a lot more rare.

oro77 18th July 2006 05:12 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
^There's no date released yet, the concert has not been announced, there's nothing speaking for that there will actually be any this year, but I still think there'll be one.

The ticket release will be announced in time on Ayus official homepage, I belive they'll be released like 2 months before the concert for TeamAyu members and 1 month before for non members, if no one else does you can be sure that I will post about their release date both in this thread and in the News section.

As soon as the tickets has been released they'll most likely appear regularly on Yahoo Auctions, just wait untill you see one or a pair you really want and go for it. The price for CDL tickets will probably be a bit higher than for the Arena Tour ones, because they're a lot more rare.
Ok thank you.　1 month before is quite short :( I hope I can get a ticket!

Shiva 21st July 2006 07:51 AM
hehe,this is GREAT,AWESOME!!!
man i couldn't have found a better thread for traveling.

you see,i'm planning to go to Arena Tour 2007(i think that's it) next year with some of my friends.and that thread just helps loads.thanks a lot man!!
although truth be told,i have crazy plans.if i ever go to japan,i wanna go to more than one concert if i can.i have many singers i wanna go see live ^^.also,my first ayu song was also evolution.

oh btw,you did give the values in Euros right?

immel 21st July 2006 09:30 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiva
oh btw,you did give the values in Euros right?
I always gave them in the currency I stated, € is for euro, $ for dollar and yen for yen.

I wish you good luck, and maybe I'll see you there :). There's lots of people heading to Arena Tour 2007 now it seems.

Ayu_Fan_00 21st July 2006 05:02 PM
I`m trying to go to the Arena tour 2007. I`mma print some of this out so I have it with me :)

Kodayumi 22nd July 2006 06:05 AM
Wow thanx for sharing with us =)

chameber80218 22nd July 2006 11:12 AM
Thanks a lot! That's very helpful~:)

immel 22nd July 2006 11:31 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ayu_Fan_00
I`m trying to go to the Arena tour 2007. I`mma print some of this out so I have it with me :)
That is so cool :). I hope it will help you at some point of your journey!

Ravane 23rd July 2006 10:39 AM
My boyfriend is a huge Ayu fan so for our anniversary/birthdays we're planning on visiting Japan and attending Arena Tour 2007 as well. Perhaps we'll see some of you there?

Thanks for posting this guide, it's really great and has definitely helped us cement all the little details.

Is it not possible to book dates for December 2006 on on the International Hostelling webpage or are they really booked through July?

immel 23rd July 2006 05:18 PM
When I check the page of Yoyogi YH it's apparent that they got no rooms left, at all, for 27th Dec 2006 and onward, it's in the midst of the holiday season and I belive a lot of people is going there around that time. I'm planning to go there for CDL 06-07, I might have a place to stay for free, but if not I was planning to stay at the YH.

It also seems like you can't book rooms for the coming year yet, by some reason. I'm going to contact them as soon as I get back home (later this evening) and I'll post information here as soon as I get a reply.

Glad that my efforts could be of help, and it's quite possiblee that we'll see you around in Tokyo 2007 :).

Corybobory 23rd July 2006 05:50 PM
Most places arent open between Christmas and New Years, when most Japanese are off work and it's everyone's holiday. It might be saying full cause they're not open those days?

Yoyogi hostel rules!! Mmmm buffet breakfasts in the neighbouring building and funny plastic slippers...

immel 23rd July 2006 08:08 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corybobory
Yoyogi hostel rules!! Mmmm buffet breakfasts in the neighbouring building and funny plastic slippers...
It rules for sure :). I never had breakfast there, didn't like the idea of that. I often walked down to FoodShow in Shibuya to get something that I could eat. Haha, the slippers were funny, yeah :D.

Corybobory 23rd July 2006 08:13 PM
^You should have gone, it was my favourite part of staying there! Since I got up so early from the jetlag, and I'm the kind of person that likes to eat immediately as soon as I get up, it was perfect for me. At 5 to 7 I'd walk over to that main building on the second floor where that huge cafeteria is and pig out. It was cheap and great food. It was neat to see all the tour groups and tourists and school kids and business men... people from all walks of life waiting patiently for the scrambled eggs...

immel 23rd July 2006 08:32 PM
Hehe, okay. They didn't have the kind of breakfast I enjoy, and I tend to wait a few hours after I get up before I eat something, I like to get going first :).

Shiva 24th July 2006 03:00 AM
i forgot to ask something.i'm curious to know what you got with 1400 euros?
i mean,that's close to 2000 CDN!! a lot of money!!surely you didn't buy only cds.

i'll have a lot to look out for.i have 12 months or so to save up on as much money as possible AND get everything ready.hehe i can hardly wait.i feel dreamy!!

immel 24th July 2006 07:12 AM
Mainly clothes, Arena Tour goods & Ayu CDs. The AT goods was not cheap, and we all know how much CDs cost in Japan already :). I also bought gifts for my friends, when I got back home I had about 300€ left, which was just as good because I needed some money when I came back.

The rest I bought various snacks & other things to eat for.

immel 25th July 2006 10:26 AM
@Ravane - I hope you see this reply!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoyogi Youth Hostel
Thank you for your enquiry.

Booking can be made either on the internet <http://www.hihostels.com> or your national YHA (Youth Hostel Association) 6 month to 72hours before to arrival.

We are opned for christmas, however, will be closed from 27th December 2006 to 5th January 2007 for the new year holiday.

ayu1m 30th July 2006 12:13 AM
Had to register, that immel's post was immens :D Much of help from you :yes
We live quite close to eachothers so i will have to ask about phones, did you have an 3g phone or a "regular" one?
I'm trying to get to Tokyo in 2007 to see Ayu perform, but things are still quite open :headache so many things waiting for solving

immel 30th July 2006 12:24 AM
Cell phones from the US/Europe does not work at all in Japan, sadly, you have to get a new one when you are there, it's quite common to hire one for a few weeks.

With some luck I might see you at AT07, maybe :)?

ayu1m 30th July 2006 12:30 AM
Yep that would be cool :yes can you say when the AT07 will start? Am I right that the dates haven't been released yet, but like march, summer, winter etc.. :)

/edit
and thanks for the cellanswer =)
/edit/

immel 30th July 2006 02:09 AM
I have no idea when it will start, sorry. Her two most recent tours were held during spring->summer, but before that she held one from winter->spring, impossible to say.

Shiva 3rd August 2006 01:03 AM
i'm still trying to find a cheap ticket.i'm in the dark,i dunno much about this.so far i've seen prices ranging from 1600 Euros to 3700 euros lol.

well it's clearly more expensive for me but yeah,it's hard to find.i'm canadian btw

ayu1m 3rd August 2006 08:18 AM
You saying you have seen tickets priced from 1600€ to 3700 € O_O that cant be.. Where have you even find tickets to ayu concerts? The dates haven't been released yet :S

immel 3rd August 2006 12:33 PM
@Shiva, I suspect you mean flight tickets?

@ayu1m, there's no concert tickets up yet.

ayu1m 3rd August 2006 12:35 PM
Ye I know, that's what I was trying to say to shiva :P

mercuryspice 6th August 2006 10:05 PM
on the cell phone thing... almost all phone made today have 3 gms signals (or called TriBand phones).. and you can buy unlocked versions of almost any phone. An unlocked phone means it has 4 gms (or QuadBand) signals and can be used on any cell phone service worldwide. I have the Motorola RAZR, it has 3 gms signals, and can be used worldwide. It is called a world capable phone. You will have to call your service provider to find out their international rates for the country you are going to. I have Cingular Wireless and they charge $1.25 for any out going call I make while in Japan. The rates for incoming calls are the same as the American rates. Text messages are .10 cents for incoming and .50 cents for out going while in Japan. I live in America BTW.
With technology now, you can use just about any phone in any country, regardless of where you bought it and live.

immel 7th August 2006 12:34 AM
Thanks for the detailed information :). I will quote your post in the initial one, my friend.

Ayu_Fan_00 7th August 2006 12:42 AM
ayu1m and immel, hopefully you`ll see me at AT07 too :D

edit: Are tickets more expensive around the holidays?

Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
^That is correct. Also, if you are going to a sought after performance, for example the last performance of an Arena Tour or a CDL, the chances is that you might not get any tickets if you wait, because they sell out fast.

In general the prices drop slowly the closer to the performance that you get, but on the very same day as the performance the price drop will be drastic.
Why is that? I mean it`s a good thing they become cheaper so u won`t have to spend so much but why?

Quote:
Originally Posted by oro77
If it's not too expensive, I think I will take some goods :) I will take some pictures

EDIT :
The concert was really awesome !! First one, and I hope not the last I will see ! I'm a fan of Ayumi since only few years so I think it's a good experience :)

I took pictures of some goods at the entrance of the stadium, I guess it's not what you asked ...
I apologize first, I know I'm a bad photographer.

http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0002.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0003.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0004.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0005.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0006.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0007.JPG
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0008.JPG

I only bought the fan, I'm poor and I think it's the most classic goods :)
I think I would buy the cap if it was the normal logo, I don't like this one with the heart (too feminine)
http://oroget.free.fr/ayu/IMG_0001.JPG

These pictures are amazing. Thanx for sharing :D



Also, where`s the thread about bringing cameras? Immel, what camera did u use?



Quote:
Originally Posted by immel
As you arrive around 10 days before the performance I belive it would work, but personally I doubt if I would dare go without a ticket in my hand when it was for a CDL performance. There are so few tickets and they are very sought after.

Something you can do is bid on a ticket on auctions and have them shipped to the address you'll be arriving at when you go to Japan.

Arriving 2 weeks before the performance I guess it would be OK. 10 days I feel is a bit too little to be 110% sure you'll get the tickets you want.



Did you plan this earlier or was it thanks to this thread? :)

Couldn`t u just get them to ship u the tickets to ur house in USA? Or is it just easier to get the tickets after u arrive in Japan? Or maybe http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/ only ship them to Japan. hmmm...

immel 7th August 2006 12:51 AM
@Ayu_Fan_00 - please edit your last post instead of double posting. You can delete one post by hitting "edit" and copy the content of it to the other.

The reason of the price drop is because not enough interested people go to those ticket reseller stores, so in the end they get desperate to sell their last tickets.

It's likely that tickets around holidays are more sought after so they might be more expensive.

ayu1m 7th August 2006 10:59 AM
Ye thx for the pics ^^ and btw. Ayu_Fan_00 immel lives in sweden, not in USA :P

immel 7th August 2006 04:59 PM
Yes, I live in Sweden, and no, ticket resellers probably do not ship outside Japan. To know if they do I would have to be able to speak Japanese in order to call them and ask, which I do not. Yahoo auctions also never ship outside Japan, for some obscure reason... it's probably that barely anyone who sell there speak decent english ;).

The thread about cameras is linked at the end of the first post.

evolution7931 8th August 2006 02:00 AM
I recently became very interested in going to the AT2007. I calculated my savings and I'm sure I can come up with around $4000CAN by around April.

The only thing thats frustrating me is these crazy ticket costs of flights to Tokyo by air canada. They're like $2200 round-trip PER PERSON. That's outrageous... Does anyone know where I might be able to find some more reasonably priced flight tickets?? I'd be flying from Halifax, NS, just so you know...

ayu1m 8th August 2006 02:12 AM
Is the $2200 a straight flight from CAN to Tokyo?
I found out the prices from my country(fin) to Tokyo and it was 690€ which is
like $890 :o quite a difference. Could it be cheaper if you would change planes in Europe :?

immel 8th August 2006 02:14 AM
Try checking out if British Airways have any routes from any airport near you, it might be a lot cheaper, even if you'll have to travel further to reach the airport.

It gets costy as soon as it's not BA you're flying with ^^.

evolution7931 8th August 2006 02:59 AM
hm. I checked the BA website and in order to go to Tokyo with them I'd have to go Halifax -> New York -> London -> Tokyo. That's so many transfers (and scary ones...). Plus, the price wouldnt be that much less than Air Canada, because of all the transfers.

Hm. So expensive... so the tickets for two people would be at LEAST $4000.. that's like, my entire budget.. ouch..

If I waited and went to a-nation 07, I'd have enough for the flights and probably like $1500 for tickets + whatever I want... and it might be more convienient because of no school. But that's not a real ayumi concert and I'd only get to see her for like 4 or 5 songs instead of like a full awesome concert.... if I'm gonna go all the way to Japan, mainly just to see Ayumi, then I'd like to actually make the most of it and go to her concert 1 or 2 nights...

ugh. stupid air canada...
now I dont know what I wanna do...

I think I COULD manage to get to Ayumi's Arena Tour 2007, but it would take me ALL I have and I would have to work VERY VERY much and very hard to get to it. Would Ayumi's concert really be worth the extra fuss?

immel 8th August 2006 03:21 AM
Oh, ow, yea, those extra transfers hurt a lot... I'm happy to be living so close to London, which is where it's (comparably) really cheap to fly from. I actually don't know what you can do, travelling expenses take up so much of the cost... sadly.

edit...
just noticed that BA's prices has gone crazy (thanks micster), right now it seems Austrian Airlines or Air France has got the cheapest tickets for flying to Tokyo, from Europe at least.

Shiva 8th August 2006 06:08 AM
heh i see many posts have been made since my last visit.yes i did mean flight tickets.and it is as Evolution says,the prices on aircanada do range in the 2200-2400 CDN so it isn't cheap.
this is my main concern,as the rest will probably fall cheap enough.
i do think that people in england have it cheaper,one of my friends who lives there told me about it.
and i do believe that the closer you live to tokyo,the cheaper it is.since it takes less time and thus less gas for the plane to get there.


oh yeah,i forgot to say....those are the cheapest fares.if you take something like first class,you'll have to pay around 5000 CDN!!!

btw,where are you from evolution?


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