This section originally penned by Aaron Glickman, with contributions by Joseph Holley.

Ah, the Japanese live experience.

To start with, there are marked differences between concerts given by Japanese artists and everyone else. Chances are, if you go to a concert by Bon Jovi, you will probably experience the same thing as if you saw them in America. In other words, the fans would go bananas, there would be mosh pits and crowd surfing where applicable, etc. etc. But today I’m talking about seeing Japanese artists, which is a thoroughly different animal.

Buying tickets is as easy as walking into one of the billions of Lawsons (a Japanese convenience store) that exist every five feet and using the console present, most of which are so old that they still have the port where you could download Super Famicom games into empty cartridges. If you know what to do and where you’re going, it’s fine, but if you don’t and you also find yourself cursed with poor Japanese reading skills, you may have some problems. The people behind the counter will probably be able to help you if you ask. Operative word here being “probably.”

Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. Although it is usually as easy as knowing the L-code (a 5 digit number you can find in the monthly free Lawson Ticket magazine) for the tickets, sometimes you need to make phone calls to get a number to be on a waiting list to be in a drawing to possibly get tickets and then you’re only salvation is a friend who has excellent Japanese and lots of luck. I’ve been denied concert tickets many times on just such an occasion.

The other problem is, buying tickets at a Lawson and/or Ticket Pier (another popular ticket distribution channel, also easy to find) will almost certainly result in sitting several football fields in length away from the prescribed band, especially if seeing them in dome or a live hall. Unless, of course, it’s standing room only. Then you’ll probably end up way back in the line because of an insidious thing known as the fan club. Being a current member of two, I now see how convenient it is. I mean, why not give first dibs on concert tickets to the people who would come to see you anyway. In short, the only way to get really good seats and/or be ahead when they call everyone out numerically is to be in the fan club. This is really annoying. In fact, it gets downright infuriating sometimes. It effectively screws over the casual fan who doesn’t feel like joining every single fan club of every single band they like just to get good seats when seeing them live.

For smaller venues or less popular acts, it's possible to get tickets at the door. This is notoriusly unreliable though, so don't count on getting tickets this way for that act you can't stand to miss. Door tickets are generally 300-500 (~$2-4 US) yen more expensive than the pre-bought tickets for the same concert. Also, you get to be last in line to get into the concert hall.

Ticket scalpers exist in this country. In droves. There don't appear to be any legal problems with scalping tickets in Japan (there is in America, though it's rarely effectively enforced most places I've lived -JH), so you will see lots of people standing around outside the concert venue with money in one hand and tickets in the other. It is possible, from what I've heard, to get better tickets from them in trade for your ticket and some money, or two tickets. I've heard they drive a hard bargin, but I've never really messed with them. In addition to this more traditional method of scalping, there are also shops located downtown in most of the large cities with names like "Ticket King". They do nothing but buy and sell tickets. This is a really good place to get fan club tickets or tickets for sold out shows. Prices are commonly 2-4 times more expensive than list price, and some acts sell for outrageous amounts. I saw a Bon Jovi 4th row ticket with a price tag of approximately a grand US on their last Japanese dome tour.

Domes

There are dome tours, which I have only experienced once and will never, of my own free will, deal with again. Places like the Osaka dome are built for baseball, not for concerts. Terrible acoustics, nosebleed seats and middle aged Japanese people sitting behind you. Of course, it’s quite impersonal too. Then again, it’s the cross one bears for being famous. I don’t think anyone has a good seat at a dome, even those lucky bastards who sit front row center because there is a huge fence blocking their view, forcing them to look up the entire time. Examples of people who played dome tours in 2000 were L'arc~en~Ciel, Amuro Namie, Ayumi Hamasaki, Glay, and the Southern All Stars. Ticket prices for these shows are generally in the 4500-6800 yen area (~$40-60 US).

In the same vein, there are huge live halls that usually have eight or nine kanji lined up in a row for names, rendering them impossible for anyone not Japanese to read or remember with any regularity. Theoretically, you could possibly end up close enough to actually make eye contact with members of the band, or at least grab a lock of hair. I have not had this ability as of yet, relegated to three rows from the back on the top row of most of them. Most are multi-tiered affairs that also host classical concerts and the occasional play. The sound is usually much better as places such as these were built with people being able to hear what was going on in mind. Everyone buys a seat and remains there, unless you are unlucky enough to be stuck with standing room. It is not a good thing in Japan. Here it means being separated out like bad cattle and being forced to watch the concert from the first floor while standing behind the last row of seats. People who did live hall tours in 2000 included Ajico, Dir en Grey, Pierrot, Puffy, Yuzu, Tomoyasu Hotei, Pornograffiti, Misia, and the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. Prices here range from 2500 (~$22 US) to 5400 yen (~$50 US).

The last step down is the smaller live "halls", which we would no doubt term "clubs" in America. These are usually isolated rooms that take up an entire floor in a large building, severely sound proofed, and set up with a stage on one end and a bar on the other. It's rare but not impossible to find one that is it's own building. Going to a concert like this generally involves buying a single drink (in the form of a redeemable ticket/coupon/coin at the door) and standing the whole time. Non-alcholic drinks are available at the bar for those under the legal age of 20. They range from small dance club size(250-300 people capacity) to small warehouse size (2000-3000 people). At any show with a decent fan base, you are asked to line up outside in the order of the number of your tickets- which is generally the order in which they were bought (they are numbered by a central ticket server). Those with fan club tickets line up in front over every one else. Those in the front of the line go into the hall first, thusly scoring the spaces closer to the stage. In the case of unnumbered tickets (generally only indies/unsigned bands with little to no fan base), your only recourse is to show up early if you want to be in front. Of course, there are generally the psycho teenage girl fans who got there the night before and camped (as far as I can tell -JH), meaning that you never get to be first. Most of these places also have coin lockers for a lucky few to store their belongings.

Things tend to be pretty laid back while people are inside and waiting for the concert to start- usually you see people talking with their friends, maybe running into a fan they've seen at previous concerts, or pointing at all the freaks in visual outfits and laughing (I know that's what I do -JH). Everyone has their space staked out, usually with bags or sometimes with metal cases with stickers of their favorite band members on them (generally in the case of visual concerts). However, when the lights go down, the yelling starts, and the crowd surges forward in an attempt to get closer to the stage. The bar is generally completely empty at this point, so if you are thirsty and didn't actually come to the concert to hear any music, this is a good time to cash in on that drink. The sound in these places tends to take the brute force approach- to hell with accoustics, just play everything ear-bleedingly loud. We here at centigrade-j suggest earplugs as essential tour-going attire, especially at rock/visual concerts. Laid, Shazna, Hirai Ken, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Sads, Plastic Tree, Onisuka Chihiro, and Grapevine all played these types of shows in 2000. Their tickets spaned quite a range- starting at 1200-2500 yen (~$10-23 US) for those who are indies/unsigned and hitting nearly 5000 yen ($45 US) for those who are major label but without mass market appeal. Note that it's not uncommon to see upcoming stars in these small venues if you keep on the cutting edge (much like in America), and occasionally people who could sell out domes will do small "club tours" in these types of places. In that case, every ticket is instantly snatched up by fan club members, so it's essentially a fan appreciation tour. L'arc did this last year, and this year they are releasing a live video/DVD that was recorded during their club tour. Hitomi also did club shows in the summer of 2000- Brian got to see her. These tickets generally cost the same as the dome concerts by the artist.

As most of the collective concert-going experience here at centigrade-j is concentrated firmly in the visual/rock genre, we'll focus on their fans. Things begin at most visual concerts with the cosplay show before the actual doors open. People dressed as their favorite band members mill about with those people doing the more generic "visual" looks- the nurse flavor, the goth flavor, the angel flavor (complete with tiny wings), and the just plain sexy flavor. Mixing of cosplay is normal- i.e. seeing a couple of people dressed as members of Raphael at a Janne da Arc concert isn't all that rare. Most of the costumes have obviously been meticulously made/assembled/shopped for by the people wearing them. Cross-dressing by the female fans is a given. At the more Rock and less Visual concerts a couple of nurses in a sea of jeans and T-shirts is about as much as you see.

I'm only commenting on visual concerts here, but it must be said that moshing does not exist in j-pop concerts... jumping around, joyful abandon, or doing what you feel doesn’t exist either. It’s all about the hand motions. Songs have hand motions and you do them at the correct parts. Head banging happens, but in a weird, robotic headbanging that ends abruptly as the fans realize that they’re supposed to be doing the hand wave now. In addition, most of the head banging is done with such fevor that I half expect to hear a sickening snap sound, followed by their dead body falling to the floor- such is the stress some fans put on their necks. This level of head banging is reserved in the states for Death/Speed Metal bands. Here it applies to Chicago and Bump of Chicken.

If all else fails, you can start "giving the love". In this synchronized set of motions involving swinging your outstretched hands at the band in time to the music, pom poms, fans and other crap are completely optional. There is also a reverse motion that some of us refer to as "receiving the love". For some strange reason, I find my thoughts going directly to Glay when it comes to these motions. If ever there was a group that the fans give and receive love to and from, it’s them. Of course, this also means that fans will usually sit there and stare glassy eyed at the band if they don’t know what to do. This is especially unsettling.

Most of the time, you go to see one band, except for multiple band concerts, which usually involve independent label and/or acts that are not well known. Fans here apparently only go to see the band they want to go see and will not expend one iota of energy cheering for or trying to get into anyone else. This results in static audiences and is completely painful to watch.

At any given concert, there will be people for whom the "one of these things is not like the others" song should be sang. The most common types include the "group of people old enough to have sired my grandparents", the "men in business suits who don't show any interest in the band", and the "group of giggling women dressed to the nines". Why are they here? How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a toosie pop? The world may never know.

Concerts in Japan are interesting, if a bit different. The over-riding themes that stick out in my mind are how hard it can be to get tickets, how frustrating it is to not be in the fan club, and the way some people choose to dress in a completely inappropriate manner for the concert at hand. If you are lucky enough to be in Japan and are lucky enough to score tickets to the next big tour, consider yourself, well... lucky. And remember that they confiscate cameras at the door.

You get them back when you leave, of course.