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Hi all,

Glad to hear the confirmation that overseas credit cards can be used on both English and Japanese Takarazuka sites. And looks like most of you managed to get your Phantom tickets!

I decided to buy a resale ticket for Elisabeth as it really seems a waste not being able to watch it while I will be in Japan at the right time. It is a little expensive, but I feel still reasonable. Seems like I will be watching plays/concerts practically all week in Tokyo!

Hope the rest will be able to get the tickets that you want.

@ kurohime:
Yes, we had more luck this time ^^

I wish you luck for your Elisabeth ticket, we already have tickets.


@ all:
My friend and I still have these tickets:

- 1 s-ticket for White Heron (Nov 4th, 3 p.m.)

- 2 s-tickets for Phantom (Nov 13th, 3 p.m.)

It seems like there´s no one who is willing to switch Phantom tickets for Elisabeth ones, we would also switch the tickets for a performance on Nov, 11th. If you´re interested, please send me a message.

@ Stonecold
I'm happy that you got some tickets for Phantom too !

We are in a similar case, we have 1 A-ticket to sell for the Phantom performance of 13th November at 3 p.m.

I wish you luck with the Elisabeth's tickets, I'm still looking for 1 as well.

That's right, the Japanese version of Takarazuka official website also sells tickets through Pia interface, that's why I was worried that a phone validation might be necessary there. Again, sorry for a complicated explanation on my part.
I'm relieved to hear one can buy tickets on Takarazuka website smoothly.

Hi everyone!

My friend and me also get tickets for Phantom on the english site.

Unfortunately a friend of us now can´t join us, but we already bought the tickets.
So, if everyone is interested, we have

- 1 ticket for White Heron (Nov, 4th, 15 p.m., s-tickets) for sale and

- 2 tickets for Phantom (Nov, 13th, 15 p.m., s-tickets) , which we would like to switch for 2 Elisabeth tickets. If we found no one, we would also sell them.

If you´re interested, please send me a message.

@ Electradioactiveine

Thank you, I understand :-) (english isn't my native language so sometimes I get things wrong)
What I was confused about especially is that you were talking about PIA, which is the system that Takarazuka's website is using (judging by the confirmation mail they sent me) and I didn't encounter any problem such as being forced to register a japanese phone number. I didn't know that you could also create an account on PIA's website.

Considering what you said, it seems much easier to buy directly from Takarazuka's website itself than using other services.

I'm sorry if my posts were misleading but I never said I was going to buy tickets to Takarazuka this time. I merely shared my information about buying tickets for Japanese performances from abroad, which is not limited to the official Takarazuka website.
This is not 3d secure I'm speaking about, it's not a way to confirm payment, but a way to manage users accounts more strictly. It's required only once to make you a full user of services like Lawson, Eplus, Pia, CNplayguide and so on.
Moreover, I don't see how a foreigner not living in Japan permanently may obtain a valid Japanese number to make phone calls from. This may be a way of preventing people buying tickets with the purpose of reselling them for profit, or it may be my wrong guess, I'm not sure. But surely this makes buying tickets to performances and events in Japan more difficult. This is what I'm trying to say.

@ Deboom, I'm sorry that you couldn't get any tickets :-( I hope you will be more lucky with Tachimi.
It was still quite tough...we only managed to get our tickets because we had 3 different internet connexions. But it was not impossible like Elisabeth.

@ Electradioactiveine
I'm sorry, I don't understand. Did you get some tickets ?
What you are talking about sounds like the 3D Secure system for cards, it's used by the japanese system of Takarazuka's website but not by the english one. But it shouldn't be a problem if you registered a phone number while creating your card.

I'm glad to hear that, I may try the Japanese version next time, so that I would have more chances on obtaining tickets. Thanks for sharing the experience.
Unfortunately, major systems such as Lawson, Pia and Eplus started introducing users' phone number confirmation. Pia was the first, last year, I think, and now for tickets sold to registered users it's required that the user makes a phone call to a certain Pia number from a valid Japanese number to confirm it. Eplus requires to enter some password sent to the user in a SMS. Lawson will introduce something similar this October. As far as I can see, Lawson still offers a way to buy tickets without full registration, so I guess it will be okay. Also, there are some tickets, only a limited number, available on Pia for non-members. I haven't tried but they may be okay too.

I wasn't able to, as I'm leaving the 12th of November, all of the opening weekend tickets were sold out. I'm going to see if Sandy can help, but if not I might give tachimi a try. But I'm glad you were able to get some! It looked much easier than Elisabeth lol. And it's good to know visa cards work on both sites!

Hello to all of you,

What are the news for those of you who wanted to book tickets for "The Phantom of the opera" ? Did it go alright ? I hope so.

It was tough, but we managed to get some tickets (through both the english system and japanese system).

I can confirm that VISA cards are accepted by both sides.

Hi!
I use a card issued by a Russian bank, and it goes perfectly well on any thinkable foreign web-store, but I couldn't use it on PIA and Eplus. From Eplus I got a confirmation that the use of foreign cards is not accepted and they recommended me to have a friend in Japan buy tickets for me. I haven't yet tried to use my card on the new Takarazuka Japanese version, so I might try next time (when on the official website the English ticket selling service was introduced, at the same time the Japanese version was upgraded too). Again, thanks to all who commented here.
According to my experience, all systems take fees for their services, and they would be something around 216 yen per ticket (200 + tax, I guess) for the 'system services', i. e. tickets reservation. Then, there are tickets that don't need issuing (Takarazuka official website system - you just bring your confirmation number to the ticket box, there are also other theatres that allow print-at-home etc.), and there are those that need to be issued at a convenience store. In this case, 108 yen per ticket will be added to the final price for the services of the issuer. However, those tickets at other theatres, which need not to be issued specially, may cost higher, for example my ticket for TBS Akasaka took the whole of 540 yen per ticket, and they were print-at-home.
As for seats, I remember Lawson offering the possibility of choosing the exact seat you want to have several years ago. I'm not sure if it's possible now for Takarazuka performances. Also, I bought tickets on Rakuten for a Cirque du Soleil performance with the possibility of choosing seats, maybe they offer the same for Takarazuka tickets that they handle, I'm not sure.
Hope this helps.

@ electradioactiveine

Thank you for your contribution to this topic and your advice. May I ask what card you used to do the payment ?
Because Deboom used an american visa card in 2017 with the english and japanese systems on Takarazuka's website and it worked.

Do you know if Lawson and CNplayguide take service fees ?

I know I am quite late to comment on this topic, but maybe my experience could help.
As far as I know, both old and new versions of Takarazuka official Japanese website ticket-selling is done through the PIA's system. I mean, the interface is different, but judging from the address line, they seem to borrow PIA's services. 6 years ago I managed to buy tickets with my (non-Japanese) card via the Japanese version of Takarazuka homepage, there was no English then. Several years later PIA stopped accepting it and I guessed foreign cards were no longer welcome. The same goes for Takarazuka official website. So, neither PIA nor Takarazuka accept my card now.
The easiest way to buy tickets would be the English version of Takarazuka website, but I'm not sure if seats are not allocated to foreign fans in a small number. If you are okay with Japanese, I would also recommend using Lawson and CNPlayguide to buy tickets. Among other systems I know Eplus, it does not accept foreign cards for sure. There are other systems, but as far as I know they don't handle Takarazuka tickets.
Also, unfortunately you have to type your data every time you retry using the English version of Takarazuka website to buy tickets, so I might recommend a browser with a fill-in function. You don't have to do it every time on Japanese sites, but their servers tend to be overloaded much sooner than the English one.

@ yungandyu:

Yes, I couldn´resist as the official was announced. And since I saw Sagiri as Kenshin before and I´ll be in Japan at the right time, why not? Ok, I´m sure I will miss Daimon as Bad Guy, but it will also be a great play too!

@stonecold
I missed your earlier message. So you are watching Kenshin too! Cool.
I will not be catching Marie Antoinette though. My "kangeki" schedule is already pretty packed :-)

I hope that all of you will have better luck with "Phantom".

I will just be in Tokyo this time, so no other Takarazuka performance for me if I don't manage to catch Elisabeth. I'm not too hopeful, but will keep a look-out for late cancellations/reasonably priced re-sale tickets.

For those who are interested, Kenshin is on during the same period. Although it is non-zuka version, Chigi is still playing Kenshin and Koike-sensei is still the scriptwriter/producer. Other elements, including the music and some of the other actresses/staff, are also Takarazuka-related. I am quite looking forward to it.

@ kurohime:

We will be successful in getting tickets - I´m sure!

Yes, I´m happy to see White Heron, beside that I will see Sagiri playing Kenshin again and I´m going to see Mari Hanafusa, Ayabuki Nao and Ayana Kanami in Marie Antoinette.

For those of us who want to get tickets for "Phantom", I hope we will succeed this time.

@ Stonecold: I still have some hope because just like you said, there is no taidan and it's in Takarazuka. However, I'm starting to worry.
It must be a relief at least for you to know that you got some tickets to see a performance of "White Heron" :-)

@Yugandyu: I won't buy any overpriced ticket either, so I guess it's over for Elisabeth.
But like Deboom said, it might be worth to wait for people who will cancel and try selling their tickets later in the run (at reasonable price).

@ deboom:

Elisabeth is a very popular play and with the taidan it was clear that tickets would sold out fast. But I never expected how fast that would be (3 minutes after the sale started everything was sold out). Even for Kenshin I could get tickets for one performance (tickets sold out in 5 minutes), but no chance this time.
But I´m still positive to get tickets for Phantom. There is no taidan and it´sin Takarazuka City.



@ yungandyu :
I also didn´t want to buy overpriced tickets, but I don´t know if I get a second chance to see Elisabeth live. But I have a limit, I don´t pay any price.