Lawson e-Ticket ~ An Overview
After suffering from a severe meltdown, I have finally been able to calm down a little and figure some things out. I am still not at a point where I am able to finish my ticket application process but I've found a promising solution for myself and if all goes according to plan, it will work out in a couple of days *fingers crossed*.
With the help of some in-depth research and the advice of several very helpful people, I've ruled out certain options that wouldn't work for me, cleared up some misconceptions and gathered enough information to write something that kinda resembles a tutorial for us overseas fans although I would like to remind everyone that my method hasn't been properly tested yet.
What is Lawson e-Ticket?
Some background info. The two biggest traditional ticketing services in Japan are "e+" and "Lawson Ticket". By now, everyone should be familiar with these two names because I've talked about them a lot in my posts. These services do have huge hurdles for overseas fans since they require registration via SMS verification from a Japanese number and they only accept Japanese payment methods. However, with some private (friend/acquaintance) or professional assistance (proxy company) in Japan, overseas fans have always been able to overcome these hurdles without too many issues so they could get tickets for concerts. Once someone has handled the registration, ticket lottery application, payment and issuing, you can simply receive the paper ticket and be done with it.
Now what is so different about Lawson e-Ticket? Well, Lawson Ticket is gradually moving into a digital direction like so many other companies these days. Their e-ticketing system was introduced many years ago and was always offered as an alternative, meaning that for event tickets, users were able to choose to receive an electronic ticket via the smartphone app or a physical paper ticket that could be printed at a Lawson store. For more recent events however, they have decided to remove that choice and only offer e-tickets and that's where overseas fans will run into a lot of trouble!! Every single person who wants to enter the venue will need a valid e-ticket. On their own verified app. On their own smartphone. With their own SIM card (unique phone number). Unfortunately, the Lawson e-ticket app is not foreigner-friendly at all. This makes ticket issuing, distributing and selling very difficult, if not impossible. More details below...
What do I need to get Kalafina FC e-tickets?
Botanical Land / NikuChoco Membership
Lawson Ticket (WEB) account incl. SMS verification for ticket lottery application + VPN + mobile device.
Japanese SIM card with phone number and DATA/VOICE plan
Lawson e-Ticket (APP) account incl. SMS verification for ticket issuing.
A proxy or acquaintance in Japan to help with certain steps.
Re 1) You can still become a FC member in the next few days in case you are very desperate to take part in the FC lotteries. I'd advice you to use this opportunity since the venues don't have a huge capacity (around 2-3k) so tickets might be in very short supply once the FC lotteries are over. But at the same time, it's important to remember that even if you do take part in the FC lotteries, there's never a guarantee that you will win everything you applied for but chances are generally higher compared to regular lotteries and sales. Check out my detailed post on Japanese Ticket Lottery Odds HERE. There's always the possibility to hire a proxy service like SOSJapan to handle the FC registration (and following steps) for you.
Re 2) I had this misconception that I would only be able to apply for the ticket lottery via the app (they explain it very badly on the ticket site). However, turns out the app is really just for issuing/displaying/transferring purposes, you cannot actually do any other stuff through the app so we can worry about the app verification in a later step. My first mistake was to attempt the application on my PC which completely threw me off. Don't do that! It won't work! You'll just see rubbish and won't be able to click on the buttons to finish the application. Use your mobile device instead of a PC to go to the respective fan club site, log in, then click the link for the ticket application which will forward you to the Lawson site. My second mistake was not using VPN before. Be sure to have a reliable VPN service like Surfshark at hand!! It should be turned on during this entire process. While being on your phone and using VPN, everything will be displayed correctly on the Lawson site so you can click through the application process. At one point you will be asked to log into your Lawson account, this is where the traditional WEB account comes into play. I've had one for years so that isn't an issue for me but I realise it might be an issue for others. The website registration also requires an SMS verification so that's a big hurdle. Not as big as for the app though since you can actually choose any "available" Japanese number to use for this step. This gives you a few more options than the app (which will automatically pick the number of the SIM in your device). This also allows a proxy service to handle all of this for you. If you have used a proxy service to get tickets from Lawson in the past, they should have an account in your name already. If not, you should ask them to handle both the FC registration as well as the Lawson ticket application for you. Before the application process can be finished, you also need to enter a mobile phone number which will later be used to verify the ticket app but more on that in Step 3.
Re 3) Now this is the tricky part. As mentioned in Step 2, you don't actually need to verify your app during the ticket application process but you will eventually need to verify it to use/display your ticket on your phone otherwise you will not be able to enter the concert venue. For this, a Japanese SIM card is required. The SIM will have to be in your device and it needs to have a working DATA and VOICE plan (pretty sure I read somewhere that mobile data needs to be turned on if you want to receive the Lawson SMS so you can't go for a light plan with just VOICE/SMS). You will also have to be in Japan during this verification process in order to receive the domestic SMS from Lawson e-ticket. Important!! While you will not need to physically have the SIM with you during the ticket application process, you should be aware that you still need to know the phone number of that SIM for the application and payment process because the number you applied with needs to match the number you verify your app with or else you won't be able to issue the tickets in the app. None of the SIM cards that were recommended to me would have arrived in time in my country to get access to that phone number. Some of the suggested SIM cards (e.g. Rakuten SIM) are even blocked on the Lawson app so that would have been a very bad idea. Right now, I believe that Mobal Sim is probably the best and most reliable option for overseas fans because they offer long-term plans without having to commit to a contract. But you'll have to get someone in Japan to buy/receive the SIM for you within the next few days because shipping overseas will take way too long. This is what I have chosen to do. An acquaintance in Japan has ordered the SIM for me and it will be shipped to his home in the next couple of days. As soon as he has it, he'll hopefully be able to send me the number of the SIM which I can then use to complete my applications through the Lawson WEB service. Technically, this is something a proxy service could also handle for you? They can buy the SIM for you, handle the application process on Lawson WEB and eventually send you the SIM for the app verification. But I am not sure if they actually do this. You would have to ask them.
Re 4) Eventually I will have to get the SIM from my acquaintance (which will either be in December or January - depending on what I decide to do; Or I'll just ask him to ship it to my home address in advance). Once I have the SIM in my possession and I get myself to Japan, I can put the SIM in one of my old smartphones and download the Lawson e-Ticket app on that phone to finally complete the verification process (please note that the app is only available in Japanese app stores so you will need an additional Japanese Apple ID etc). I am making sure to mention that it should be a separate device from your regular one with your local SIM because you don't want to risk having to do the SMS verification again and again. If you change your device, reinstall the app, deauthorise the app, or transfer (swap) your SIM card after having issued a specific ticket to your app, your ticket will automatically be invalidated and that's definitely not something we want to happen. Please also be aware that you will probably be stuck with that mobile plan for a while because there's no way of knowing if you'll have to make another verification at some point. With apps these days, you never know.
Re 5) Without some form of help in Japan, all of this is probably impossible. This can be a proxy service or a kind person, it's up to you what works best in your case. I got Step 1 done all by myself (using TENSO) and Step 2 done basically by myself but with a little assistance from a friend in Japan many years ago. I will still need someone to handle the payment for the tickets as well as the whole SIM card thing for me but as I've mentioned, I've arranged something with an acquaintance and hopefully, everything will work out smoothly.
You can skip Steps 1 and 2 if you can find a kind FC member who is willing to apply for an extra "companion" ticket on your behalf which they can then "distribute" to you. (The lottery allows up to 2 tickets per person per performance which is less than last time. Not sure how many people will risk applying for more tickets than necessary since it could reduce their chance of winning). The Hikaru X lottery is also still happening and it doesn't require a FC membership so there will be more people you can ask to apply for an extra ticket on your behalf. There is a possibility that this lottery won't be e-ticket exclusive but we won't know for sure until the application period starts. Last but not least, there will be a general sale which may or may not happen exclusively via Lawson e-ticket or with an option to print physical tickets (general sales usually have a paper ticket option but not always). Again, you can ask someone to buy an extra ticket on your behalf. At any rate, it's very important to remember that if it's an e-ticket, you will eventually have to get it transferred to your own app so Steps 3 and 4 are a MUST DO!! But you won't need the SIM card right away since you are skipping the application step.
Some personal notes: Right now this is all new territory for me. I am anxious as hell and don't really know what to do next. I think you can tell by the way this is written that my mind is all over the place. I am literally going crazy. I will have to start planning my Japan trip(s) very soon. Originally I was just going to Wakana's concert on Dec 18 and be done with it. But then Keiko announced her birthday event and I wanted to go on a longer winter trip so I could attend both. Initially I was excited to go but then I found out that this was Lawson e-ticket exclusive so I immediately lost all hope. Soon after, the Kala-lives were announced and I completely abandoned the idea of travelling to Japan in December because two months in a row would just way too much, my main priority was just to be there in January. Sadly, it turned out that this was e-ticket exclusive as well so I had my little meltdown. Now that I have possibly found a solution for my problems, I am suddenly confronted with all these options and I don't know what to do. I already have my ticket for Wakana and I would probably want to get the whole app verification thing handled as soon as possible (for my peace of mind) so I am considering making a very short trip to Japan in December and then a slightly longer one in January for the Kala-lives. But now Keiko's birthday event has also become a possible option for me again so of course it's tempting to apply for that as well but dammit, it would have to be a very extended stay in Japan to make it to Keiko's as well as Wakana's event in December but that's quite unreasonable, even for a crazy person like myself. I could have maybe justified it if I didn't have the Kala-lives coming up in January but now...*sighs* I realise it's stupid to worry too much about all of this as long as I don't even have any tickets. Who knows, I might not even win tickets for the Keiko birthday event and then the decision will be made for me anyway. Sorry you have to listen to my endless rambling, I just need to vent a little. It's just killing me that I currently can't do anything and I have no idea if my plan is gonna work.