dsquared37

Has anyone used this service to secure tix:

http://www.japanballtickets.com/japa...rch_april.html

The charge is $59 per order (which in our case might be 4 or 5 ballgames) and it's claimed the tickets will arrive at the hotel designated.

I'm inclined to think it's legit but wanted to throw it out here (no pun intended) and see if anyone has experience with this (or any other service).

gnaget

You can walk up and buy a ticket for most games, especially the more expensive seats. I never had a problem. There are exceptions of course. Giants will sell out, but I also advise you not to go to their boring stadium.

I even bought Swallows-Giants playoff tickets online the day before.

Ha, if you check the website he warns that he can't get tickets for special games. So essentially he is just a local individual who charges $59 to buy tickets online or down at the local convenience store. The value of a ticket service should be to get tickets that are hard to purchase.

Once you get to Japan, I recommend Ticketport. I used to go my local one, which is in the 109 Bldg. http://www.shibuya109.jp/en/s/ticketport_piastation/ They might know a few words of English. One advantage versus a convenience store (and you will struggle with the machine) is that you can pick specific seats from seating charts. Their fee is only 105 yen per ticket. I used Ticketport for football tickets because they discount them if you buy them in advance. Never saw the need for baseball, but if you want to be certain then it's a good place.

gnaget

Oh yes. The Giants have an English website now for online purchases. No surcharge.......

http://www.e-tix.jp/ticket_giants/en/ticket_pc_en.php

If you are in Tokyo then this is the only potentially difficult ticket.

dsquared37

I'll give this a look see. The main concern I have is the Giants game we're targeting is the evening of our arrival. And the only reason we have this game pegged is because it appears to be the easiest to get to from the Shinjuku area.

AlwaysAisle

Usually baseball games in Japan only sell out for popular teams’ home game (Youmiuri Giants happen to be a popular team) on major holidays or championship games. All other games rarely sell out.

Unless if you are planning on Giants home game on a major holiday or championship games (which is end of the season in October) I will not spend $59 fee for somebody else to get a ticket.

dsquared37

It was $59 to get an unlimited amount of tickets (and we're looking at 4 or 5 games). But I've already procured the Giants game online and will not use the service.

The next game I'm looking at is Tigers v Giants in Osaka and tickets go on sale Tuesday morning. I will not use the service for this either....

However, if I were to have used the service for 5 games for two people the service fee would represent $6 per ticket which is not awful considering it would include delivery to the hotel and require aboslutely no work on our part.

BTW: The remainder of the games we'll pick up at the stadium that day.

Much thanks to gnaget for the link to the Giants' online purchase page.

AlwaysAisle

Oh, I am jealous now! You get to see Tigers game at the home turf in Osaka, Koshien park. I am Tigers fan so I am biased, but many agree that you just cannot beat Tigers fans at home game. It is something to see.

dsquared37

I've taken my (Asian) wife to a game in PacBell (or whatever that ballpark is called these days) in SF on a beautiful April afternoon in a beautiful ballpark and she said 'meh'*. We went to a game at Jamsil Stadium Seoul last October and she loved it. Now I get to see baseball games in Asia whenever I can schedule them!!!!

It appears that, without too much difficulties, we'll get games in Hiroshima and Fukuoka as well. Nagoya and another Tokyo team are doable (and I'd definitely do it if I were solo) but I don't want to push too much as it would take some work to coordinate.

The Osaka Hyatt said they could arrange the Tigers v Giants tix, scheduled for sale this Tuesday morning at 10AM, for a 5% fee which I have no problem with. And I'm thrilled to have an afternoon game with no roof!!!! The Tigers' website seems to be only in Japanese and so I can't negotiate purchasing tickets with confidence ....

*Thankfully she loved the ice hockey games we went to. My passion.

jib71

Golden.

gnaget

Well, Swallows' stadium is in Shinjuku-ku. I am biased but it should be more fun than a Giants game.

Hiroshima appears to have a nice stadium (Zoom-Zoom!). One of the few with real grass.

Also, don't overlook Yokohama. It's a nice city and the stadium is right in the heart of it. You can get there by train from Shibuya in about 30 min.

dsquared37

Unfortunately the Swallows are the only team without a home game during our short stay in Tokyo; they would have been my first choice otherwise. Yokohama is a possibility but that depends upon the wants and needs of my better half.

Think I worked a Hiroshima Carp game (and a full day around the town) into our schedule.

It's possible to also work a Nagoya game into the schedule since it's a quick train ride after an afternoon in Hikone.... but my wife might not take so kindly to too much time spent at ballparks. There's a point at which it's best to not push further and I can tell the line is being toed.

mapleg

I have read a few instances of that $59 web site where they split up the tickets..so the husband and wife are sitting in different sections of the park. Hardly ideal and not what one would expect when paying big bucks for the service. (and it is big bucks...anyone in Japan can buy tickets to baseball games from a convenience store machine for a mark up of 105 yen per ticket (using Lawson's as an example). Even with my very, very poor Japanese language skills I manged to figure out how to use a Loppi machine to buy tickets. Of course the courier adds some cost, but really they are playing on the fact more casual visitors won't want to figure out how to buy tickets in person or on line.

Luckily, the Giant's have their English website to buy tickets with no mark up (Ticketmaster, are you listening?).

kevincrumbs

I used it during the summer of 2012 for two games, Tigers at Buffaloes and Tigers at Hawks. The service is indeed legit and my tickets were waiting for me at my hotel in Osaka when I checked in. However, I was disappointed that the seats were fairly poor. In hindsight, I probably would just try my luck buying tickets at the ballpark in the future, as long as it wasn't a Tigers v. Giants match up as referenced up thread. I'm going to be in Sapporo in May and will try my best to catch the Fighters at the Sapporo Dome. Not thrilled to be going to my third dome in Japan but I'm sure it'll still be fun.

dsquared37

After purchasing Giants v Carp online a few days ago and having the Osaka Hyatt procure a pair of tix for the Tigers v Giants game, which went on sale this morning, I'm a happy man having paid only Y270 over ticket cost.

The other games we're looking at will be a show-up-at-the-game-and-buy-tickets event.

As for the sight itself he gives the option of 3 levels of seats which makes his life easier but takes away options for us. That said we had a similar situation with the hotel today and, though I know the general area of our seats, it remains to be seen exactly where they are and how high up they are.

gnaget

Yokohama is a really nice place. I like it better than Tokyo in many ways. You could make a day trip there and include a ball game.

From watching games on TV, the Nagoya Dome (or whatever it is called) looks like the most sterile and dull ballpark in Japan. Always lots and lots of empty seats.

Oh, you can completely self cater in Japan for sporting events. I once saw a guy bring an entire thermos-barrel of soup. They have ok food at the ballpark, but I usually picked up some decent quality sushi from a department store and brought some Yona-Yona beer (microbrew). Technically, you can't bring cans and glass bottles, but they never check your bags. For football (soccer) they actually search your bags and it became a great sport to smuggle them in. They have tables where you are supposed to pour your beer into paper cups. They are convinced that hooliganism is linked to football even though the fans are as straightlaced as you can imagine.