How to Buy Concert Tickets in Japan as a Tourist (2026)
Most foreign acts sell to visitors through an English overseas page: no Japanese account, a credit card, pickup at 7-Eleven. Here's how, and when it's harder.
For most foreign acts touring Japan, you can buy from home. The promoter runs an overseas sales page in English: Udo Artists sells through Ticket Pia's overseas site, Creativeman and Smash through e+'s. You pay by credit card, need no Japanese account, and collect the ticket at any 7-Eleven in Japan once you arrive. Big J-pop dome tours are harder: they sell in Japanese, and several go through the act's fan club first. Either way, sales open months before the show, so check the dates as soon as you book your flights. Our concerts in Japan page lists the tours with their sale dates and marks the ones you can buy from abroad.
Three Ways to Get a Ticket
| Overseas sales page | Japanese ticket sites | Fan club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who sells this way | Most foreign tours (Udo, Creativeman, Smash) | Every tour; some only here | J-pop acts with fan clubs |
| Language | English | Japanese | Japanese |
| Account | None on e+'s overseas site | Member account with a verified phone | Paid membership |
| Payment | Credit card (e+ also takes Alipay and WeChat Pay) | Varies by show | Varies |
| The ticket | Printed at a 7-Eleven in Japan, or a QR code | App or convenience store | Varies |
Sold only on the Japanese sites? Then it gets hard from abroad. e+ and Ticket Pia both check your phone when you sign up: you call a number shown on the screen, from the phone you registered. Fan-club tours are harder still: Tokyo Dome lists the fan club itself as the contact for three of its winter dome tours.
Buying on an Overseas Sales Page
- Find the overseas link It sits on the promoter's tour page, usually under a heading like "Purchasing Tickets from Overseas" or "Worldwide Ticket Reservation", and it is only for people who live outside Japan.
- Pay by credit card Pia's overseas site adds a sales fee of ¥1,100 per ticket and an English service fee per order; e+ includes its handling charge in the price. Each show sets a limit per buyer: six tickets for Toto's 2027 tour, four for Radiohead's.
- Wait for the ticket number e+ emails a 13-digit number two days before the show. Some shows send a QR ticket through the AnyPASS app instead, about five days ahead. Pia's page names the day pickup opens: three days before the show for Toto in Osaka.
- Print it at a 7-Eleven in Japan Any 7-Eleven works, but only 7-Eleven: not FamilyMart or Lawson. On e+, pickup is free and the number stays valid until the show ends.
Use one browser tab. Pia's overseas site warns against buying in several tabs at once, and against your browser's back button during checkout.
Presales, Lotteries and the General Sale
Tickets go on sale in rounds, and the first rounds matter most. A typical foreign tour runs a members' presale, then an official presale, then the general sale. For Wolf Alice's Tokyo show on November 23, 2026, Creativeman's members' presale opened February 7, the official presale ran February 12 to 16, and the general sale opened February 21, nine months before the show.
- Lotteries: some presales are lotteries, and a few of the biggest shows sell by lottery only. You apply during a window, sometimes ranking the seat types you want, and learn afterwards whether you won. Radiohead's five 2027 shows in Saitama work this way: every application is a lottery, with up to five seat types ranked.
- No general sale at all: promoters warn that if the presales use up the tickets, there is no general sale. For a big name, the presale is the sale.
- Sale times are Japan time: general sales usually open at 10:00 in Japan, which is 1:00 in London and 20:00 the evening before in New York in winter.
On the Day
- Bring your passport. Some shows check the buyer's photo ID at the door. Radiohead's 2027 shows accept originals only, no copies or screenshots, make everyone in the buyer's group walk in with the buyer, and will not change the name on a ticket, even within a family. Buy in the name of the person who will go.
- Standing tickets have numbers. Clubs and Zepp halls let standing ticket holders in by the entry number printed on the ticket, so a low number means a spot near the front.
- Expect a drink charge at clubs. Tickets for live houses often say "1 Drink" in the price notes: you pay for a drink at the door on top of the ticket.
- Children under six are not admitted to many of these shows, and from six up they need their own ticket.
Reselling, and the Sites to Avoid
You can't pass on a ticket you bought on e+'s overseas site: no resale, no transfer, no name change. Japan's ticket resale law, in force since June 2019, bans reselling designated tickets above face value as a business, and Creativeman's Radiohead page names viagogo, StubHub, Ticket Ryutsu Center and Ticketjam as unofficial sellers. Pia's overseas sales page says tickets bought on resale sites, auctions or at discount shops are invalid and can be refused at the door, with no refund. Buy from the promoter's own links, or not at all.
Book the Hotel When You Buy the Ticket
A dome concert brings tens of thousands of fans into one city for the night, and the hotels around it fill first. Once you have a ticket, book the night. Every tour on our concerts page has a "Hotels that night" link for each date, and the page lists the next nights a dome show fills a city's hotels, in Tokyo, Osaka or any other dome city: worth knowing even if you're not going to a show.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I buy Japanese concert tickets from overseas?
For most foreign acts, yes: the promoter's overseas sales page sells in English to people living outside Japan, and you pay by credit card. You collect the ticket at a 7-Eleven in Japan, or get a QR code for some shows.
Do I need a Japanese phone number to buy concert tickets?
Not on an overseas sales page: e+'s overseas site needs no membership at all. The Japanese sites do check a phone: when you join e+ or Ticket Pia, you call a number shown on the screen from the phone you registered.
What time do Japanese concert tickets go on sale?
General sales usually open at 10:00 Japan time, which is 1:00 in London and 20:00 the evening before in New York in winter. Presales open weeks or months earlier, and big shows can sell out in them.
