NHK Trophy 2014 website is up!

[chasingpolaris]

Thank you all for sharing but I am still confused. Is it common to have sales through draws before the official ticket sale date on 20th Sept ? And how can overseas fan like myself participate since the English website only shows the info for the sale on the 20th ? Would appreciate if someone can advise me so that I would be more prepared the next time.

BTW, where can I purchase the tickets through auctions (for info only as definitely I cant pay Y120,000!) ?

Many big events in Japan have lottery drawings prior to the general sales date and this is not limited to figure skating. Concerts for popular artists are also the same, though some of them may only be open to fan club members.

As an overseas fan, you will have to wait for general sales through the English website unless you have friends residing in Japan who can help you ballot for tickets. Places such as pia and e-tix, which were both used for NHK, require a Japanese address and phone number. E-tix (Japanese site) does not accept foreign credit cards as I've learned the hard way, but pia does as well as Lawson.

I'm not sure where you can purchase tickets via auction so hopefully someone can help with that?

 

[KansaiPJ]

Thank you all for sharing but I am still confused. Is it common to have sales through draws before the official ticket sale date on 20th Sept ? And how can overseas fan like myself participate since the English website only shows the info for the sale on the 20th ? Would appreciate if someone can advise me so that I would be more prepared the next time.

BTW, where can I purchase the tickets through auctions (for info only as definitely I cant pay Y120,000!) ?

I feel your pain ngmi. The ticket sales practices in Japan are a confused and corrupt mess. Not just for figure skating, but for most sports, music, and entertainment services. Most Japanese friends I know bemoan the system but it is what we are stuck with here. To answer your questions, yes - most skating events (competition and galas have pre-sales in Japan); as for where to find remaining tickets on auctions, try Yahoo Auction. But I have to warn you, the prices are super sky high. I just got an ArenaS (2nd class ticket) for almost 5 times the original asking price. My advice is to watch sites like GS and ask lots of questions. The others on this site who have been interested in skating far longer than I, have all been super-helpful with advice and information. Good luck!

 

[hb2010]

Curious about this -- when did you get wind/know that tickets would be sold in the event? Was it said in the website, or did you just take a chance and lined up at the venue, hoping they would sell tickets? And how early should early be i.e., how many hours before the gates opened did you wait? I was thinking my friend and I could possibly do that for Saturday since that's the only day we don't have tickets for.

I was almost sure today's tickets would be sold at NHK 2013
from the experience of the events I had been - GPF2009, WTT2012 and 2013.

And for your reference, here is a website of last year's NHK Torophy.
You can see the detailed information about today's tickets on the top of
the news list (in Japanese).

http://www.nhk2013.jp/

About waiting hours, there was already a loooong line when I arrived at the arena
some two hours early to the ticket sales time.
And staff let us know how many tickets they had for sale on that day there.

As my experience is limited to the events at Yoyogi Arena, Tokyo ( capacity: 13,243)
it might be different in Osaka.

 

[juuryokunashi]

I was almost sure today's tickets would be sold at NHK 2013
from the experience of the events I had been - GPF2009, WTT2012 and 2013.

And for your reference, here is a website of last year's NHK Torophy.
You can see the detailed information about today's tickets on the top of
the news list (in Japanese).

http://www.nhk2013.jp/

About waiting hours, there was already a loooong line when I arrived at the arena
some two hours early to the ticket sales time.
And staff let us know how many tickets they had for sale on that day there.

As my experience is limited to the events at Yoyogi Arena, Tokyo ( capacity: 13,243)
it might be different in Osaka.

Thank you for this bit of info! I never bothered checking last year's website and now that you've mentioned it, they did announce it. I'll have to see if I can be bothered to line up on that day, haha. Thank you so much, hb2010! I'll keep this in mind. Pretty sure this happening in this year's event would be probable. We'll just have to keep our eyes on their website, then. (Though I think Namihaya is smaller than Yoyogi Stadium, but the possibility is still very high, methinks.)

PSA for everyone else who plans to do the same thing on the event day, as stated on the Japanese announcement: ticket sales start least 30 minutes before gates open. So a fair bit earlier than that, or maybe even 3 hours before the gates open, and you can probably grab a ticket with your preferred seat. *__*

 

[chasingpolaris]

That's great to know. Thank you for the info, hb2010!

I will be staying a hotel about 20 minutes away from Namihaya by train so I'll have to drag myself out of bed and head over there with a friend. Perhaps I should just consider camping outside the venue for the night lol

 

[ngml]

Thank you all for the replies to my question. Now, I just hope his back injury is not serious. Rather he recover fully instead of rushing to compete in COC and NHK (even though I already has booked flight and hotel to Osaka).

 

[bibi1899]

Thank you all for sharing but I am still confused. Is it common to have sales through draws before the official ticket sale date on 20th Sept ? And how can overseas fan like myself participate since the English website only shows the info for the sale on the 20th ? Would appreciate if someone can advise me so that I would be more prepared the next time.

BTW, where can I purchase the tickets through auctions (for info only as definitely I cant pay Y120,000!) ?

As an oversea fans, i usually buy tickets in the http://www.ticket.co.jp/sys/d/4902.htm
This website accept international credit card, however, you need a Japan address for delivering the tickets.
I used to deliver to my friend's place in Japan.
The ticket price still very high, normally goes to at least 3-5 times than original price.
You can check often to see if there is any ticket in "normal" price.

The pre-sale ticket drawing game for NHK was a mess this year for me.
I got only 2 tickets out of 350 tickets order......that's really disappointing experience for me.
Next time, I won't take too much effort for the ticket drawing....

 

[ngml]

Thanks bibi1899 and I take it that you can read Japanese as the website does not have any other language option ? I love Japan and would have been great if I can combine sightseeing with figure skating viewing but if the ticketing system is so complex, I may consider to catch his competition elsewhere.

Will now consider to catch Worlds Championship in Shanghai next March. Unfortunately, figure skating is not popular in my country (Singapore) and it would be difficult to get friends to go Shanghai just for this event.

 

[chasingpolaris]

Thanks bibi1899 and I take it that you can read Japanese as the website does not have any other language option ? I love Japan and would have been great if I can combine sightseeing with figure skating viewing but if the ticketing system is so complex, I may consider to catch his competition elsewhere.

Will now consider to catch Worlds Championship in Shanghai next March. Unfortunately, figure skating is not popular in my country (Singapore) and it would be difficult to get friends to go Shanghai just for this event.

I think one of the reasons why the tickets were so hard to get this year is because of the venue. Namihaya Dome is a lot smaller than Saitama and Yoyogi so perhaps the lack of seats contributed to the crazy pre-sale lottery and why the general sales sold out so quickly. Perhaps next year it will be held in a different venue in Japan, a much bigger one, so that there will be more chances for both overseas and domestic fans to attend. (I wish they'd start selling all-event tickets rather than single sessions. It's much more convenient and less frustrating!)

ngml, would you consider going to Korea for Four Continents in February? World Team Trophy is also next year in Tokyo, most likely at Yoyogi.

 

[ngml]

chasingpolaris: I am still not familiar with Yuzuru's schedule ...is he participating in these competitions ? Thus far, I am only aware of COC, Finlandia, GPF in Barcelona and Worlds 2015. Would definitely consider going to Korea or Tokyo if he is competing. Acutally, I am hoping to see him competing in next yr Finlandia Trophy.

 

[chasingpolaris]

chasingpolaris: I am still not familiar with Yuzuru's schedule ...is he participating in these competitions ? Thus far, I am only aware of COC, Finlandia, GPF in Barcelona and Worlds 2015. Would definitely consider going to Korea or Tokyo if he is competing. Acutally, I am hoping to see him competing in next yr Finlandia Trophy.

They haven't announced the entries for both events so you'll have to keep an eye out for them, but I think those are good events to attend if you can't catch the others.

 

[KansaiPJ]

Thank you all for the replies to my question. Now, I just hope his back injury is not serious. Rather he recover fully instead of rushing to compete in COC and NHK (even though I already has booked flight and hotel to Osaka).

I understand how you feel ngml. I have also booked tickets to both COC and NHK and I would be disappointed if he did not compete, but I agree that his health is most important and if he needs extra time he should take it so he can get better.

 

[juuryokunashi]

So going back on topic (re: NHK Trophy, the competition), I was wondering if there are restrictions to flowers being brought into the venue. I was thinking of buying bouquets from a flower shop somewhere (because I support a lot of skaters!) but I heard the event only has one, sort-of accredited florist who sells flowers in the venue. Is this true?

 

[pandaatlarge]

Hi all, good news (or not really?), there will be another round of ticket lottery from next Friday on ePlus. http://eplus.jp/sys/main.jsp?prm=U=14:P1=0402:P2=013607:P5=0001:P6=001 It is for Stand B seat where the view might be impacted by crane camera. The tickets for this category was not on sale previously until the crane camera set was fixed. The website also says that there might be a 3rd round of sales if there is any arrangement change (this is the main reason why we have tickets on sale on the event day for many popular competition/ice shows).

 

[ngml]

Thanks for the info....you are right, its good news but yet not really, as it does not seem easy to buy the ticket for foreigners who don't understand Japanese.

 

[chasingpolaris]

Time again to enter the lottery and stay anxious lol. Will definitely try again, though the first time I did, they wouldn't accept foreign credit cards. Doesn't hurt to try, I suppose.

 

[pandaatlarge]

Lottery result will come out in 6 hours! Please god, give me one ticket, please!

P.s. I am just wondering if I should go to Yuzuruha Shrine to pray tomorrow morning before the result comes out... well it is only a few minutes' walk from where I live actually.

 

[Meoima]

Lottery result will come out in 6 hours! Please god, give me one ticket, please!
P.s. I am just wondering if I should go to Yuzuruha Shrine to pray tomorrow morning before the result comes out... well it is only a few minutes' walk from where I live actually.

I will pray for you. Getting a ticket in Japan is so difficult. I intend to visit Japan next year for NHK but at this rate it's so scary.

 

[chasingpolaris]

Good luck pandaatlarge. I tried to join the lottery yesterday but it would not accept my foreign card. :no:

Meoima, I know what you mean. I don't think I will be able to go through it again. It's much easier to wait for the skaters to compete in countries outside Japan.

 

[KansaiPJ]

Lottery result will come out in 6 hours! Please god, give me one ticket, please!

P.s. I am just wondering if I should go to Yuzuruha Shrine to pray tomorrow morning before the result comes out... well it is only a few minutes' walk from where I live actually.

Good luck pandaatlarge! I was lucky to get tickets for all three days, but Saturday I had to get on Yahoo Auctions and it was hella expensive! This new lottery is a great chance for you. The kansai really needs a larger venue for skating...