by Rachel Adams
Hey guys! Although you may know me as the editor for the newsletter or that one member of AJET who always researches random stuff about Nara/Japanese history, most of my friends know me as a hermit that only leaves her apartment to go to karaoke or concerts. Back in the United States, I grew up going to concerts with my family almost every other week, and now that I’m in Japan, I’m continuing the great tradition! Although Nara is known mostly for deer, mountains, and in general being a pretty quaint prefecture, it’s actually in a great location for taking a day or half day trip to Kobe and Osaka for concerts.
I think the biggest difference between concerts here and in the US is the lottery system for tickets. Instead of fighting ticket scalpers and other fans for tickets online, Japan has a much more forgiving system. You can apply for concert tickets anytime during a predetermined time period and have a chance of getting good seats. However, you may also lose the lottery and may not be able to go at all, but most concerts have multiple lotteries so you can always try again! Instead of a first-come first-serve basis for standing concerts, the lottery system assigns what order people can enter the venue, with usually an official fan club having priority. I miss the days of being able to make sure I was in the front row for every concert, but it’s also nice not having to show up super early to secure my place in line.
I think so far, one of my favorite concert venues is Rocktown by Tennouji Station. I was really confused when I first went there, because it’s in a shopping mall and looks just like an ordinary store or restaurant! Aside from it being a cute and clean rock venue, it was really nice because I didn’t have to wait outside in the cold to kill time before the concert, there was a food court a floor below, and I could go shopping right after the concert ended. It’s definitely a Japan thing that just makes sense.
This may be only the type of concerts that I go to, but I also feel like some shows feel a lot more like a convention than they would back in the US. In Tokyo, it’s not uncommon for concerts to have themed food (I’ve seen cursed blue karaage with blue mayonnaise before) and collaboration cafes. If you’re good at navigating Twitter, it’s also easy to hunt down fans giving away fanmade commemorative tickets or postcards outside of the venue the whole day of a concert. It’s so much fun seeing people decked out in sometimes thousands of dollars worth of merch and carrying around penlights!
I don’t have too many crazy concert stories (the only one that really sticks out is when I decided last minute to go to a show in the middle of a raging typhoon), but I have a lot of great memories of making friends with other non-Japanese fans at concerts and meeting some musicians that I’ve been supporting for a long time. I’m pretty sure my music tastes overlap more with my junior high students than my colleagues that are my age, but if you ever have any questions about concert stuff or Japanese music, I’m all ears! I hope this blogpost piqued your interest to check out the music scene here in Japan, and if concerts aren’t your jam, well, there’s always karaoke ;)