JPHiP Radio (16/200 @ 128 kbs)     Now playing: Tomosaka Rie - Shoujo Robot

Author Topic: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion  (Read 11854 times)

Offline kei_86

  • Umeko's kappa~!
  • ecchi
  • Member+
  • Posts: 567
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #20 on: April 03, 2013, 12:21:10 AM »
in regards to TIF, our forum member Cicily can give you a heads up on the ticketing and stuff. He was even in the Idoling!!! TIF SP episodes that day lol.

Hellguard and Silverbolt have been to Gasshukoku IIRC

in regards to cheap accommodations, I frequently stay in a hostel and usually take dormitory rooms. Price can be around 2400JPY - 3000JPY per night and my hostel is directly at Asakusa so it totally saves my money going to Akiba since it is so near  :lol: Check out for Tokyo Smile Annex, that's the hostel I usually frequent to. No problems so far.

Offline AEUGNewtype

  • Member+
  • Posts: 171
  • ♥ まいぷる ♥
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #21 on: April 03, 2013, 12:35:43 AM »
Oh yeah, another possibility for the adventurous, is to sleep in a 24h internet cafe  :P Several of them offer a night package where you pay for 6-9hrs (for less than 1000yen) and some have showers.

That sounds amazing XD Camping sounds like fun too XD

That really sucks to hear a lot of the other people here aren't going, that would definitely make me a lot less inclined to go. One of the best parts of going to events like this is the experience and seeing lots of friends I've met over the years and having adventures.  While I'd still love to see the festival, idol stuff is much more enjoyable with other people, so that would diminish a lot of the value of the trip for me.

Offline kei_86

  • Umeko's kappa~!
  • ecchi
  • Member+
  • Posts: 567
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #22 on: April 03, 2013, 12:50:18 AM »
my holidays is only at the end of the year, so I don't think I can ever make it for any event prior to December at all. Sorry  :( :(

Offline Silverbolt

  • Member+
  • Posts: 149
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #23 on: April 03, 2013, 05:41:52 AM »
For the past few years, I've been making regular trips to Japan around the July/August and December/January timeframes. Unfortunately, for many reasons, I probably won't be able to continue that trend for this year. But, I might be able to help answer some of your questions.

Flights from the US always go to Narita or Haneda, so those are really the only airports you should look at. Airfare from the US to Japan sucks... period. It's especially bad during the July/August and December/January timeframes, because those are the times of the year when most people take vacations. I've paid close to $2000 for a round-trip ticket to Tokyo before, so $1400 for a July ticket actually isn't that bad. The only thing you can really do is scour the Internet for deals. In addition to checking sites like Kayak, Priceline, and Orbitz, check the websites of the airlines, as they may actually have better deals. Travel agencies might also have some specials, but that doesn't happen very often. One other thing I can recommend only applies if you live near an international airport... If you can catch a ride to one of the international hubs that has direct flights to Tokyo (DC, Houston, Denver, Chicago, New York, LA, etc.), your airfare will be a bit lower in most cases.

Whatever you choose to do, just make sure you sign up for your airline's frequent flyer program. Yeah, you get a bit of spam or junk mail, but it's free, and you never know when you'll take another trip. Those miles to Tokyo add up really quickly. I've gotten free upgrades to first class before, and, trust me, it makes a HUGE difference.

I've had the convenience of having my brother-in-law's parents working for the US military in Japan, which means I've had a place to stay every time I've gone there. But, they moved back to the US, so now I don't have a place to stay (one of the reasons why I'm hesitant to take trips to Japan now). Anyway, what this basically means is that I have absolutely no experience with finding places to stay while visiting Japan. XD But, I can say that it's quite nice to stay in someone's home, rather than a hotel room... I never had to worry about meals... Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were always available for free, if I wanted to eat at the house. The amount you spend on food in Japan can get out of control really easily, so having that option saved me tons of money. :lol: If you're feeling bold, you can always try Couchsurfing. Personally, that concept scares me, but I guess it's not too much different from staying in a hostel room with a bunch of other strangers.

Try to stay in an area that's close to where you plan to be most of the time. The house I was staying in was in Kanagawa, so I had to ride the train for about an hour just to get to Tokyo. Also, keep your train fares in mind because that can also get out of control really easily, especially if you start leaving the Tokyo area. I was spending well over 1000 yen each day just on train fares, but 800 of that was just because of that round trip between Kanagawa and Tokyo.

I've been to Fuji TV's Odaiba Gasshuukoku many times during my trips to Japan, and if you're a fan of any Fuji TV programming at all, it's a great event to go to, regardless of Idoling!!!'s activities. Plus, there's lots of shopping and other things to do in Odaiba. Anyway, there are basically two stages where live performances take place during Gasshuukoku: a small stage on the ground level outside the Fuji TV building and a big stage in another area down the street. This other area with the big stage gets a different name each year, but one thing never changes: you need to buy a Gasshuukoku pass to access this area. Attractions outside the Fuji TV building, on the other hand, are free and open to the public. Luckily, most of Idoling!!!'s daily mini-lives are on the small stage at the Fuji TV building.

I've never been to one of Idoling!!!'s lives on the big stage, but I've been to a bunch on the small stage. When they post the schedule for the Idoling!!! mini-lives on the Idoling!!! web site, they'll put up times to get "tickets". The tickets are free, and getting one lets you stand in the fenced area in front of the stage, but they're pretty useless unless you get there extra early and get first or second row. Why? Let me try to draw it out.
Code: [Select]
    ----------
    | Stage  |
    ----------
------------------
    | Fenced |
    |  Area  |
Hopefully you can see from this poor diagram that people without tickets can stand just to the left or right of the fenced-in area to get just as close as those who had tickets. Also, since it's outdoors, you can also go up a nearby staircase and take sneaky pictures, if you'd like.

So, it's not really worth it to try to get to Odaiba early for those tickets, but there is one other reason you might want to go early... They normally sell the Natsu Yasuming!!! DVDs early in the morning. These used to come with handshake tickets, but I don't know if they do that anymore. I'm not sure because I haven't actually bought any since 2010. XD

Unfortunately, I've never been to a Tokyo Idol Festival because they always announced them after I already planned out my trips and bought plane tickets. They finally announce it nice and early this year, which is the year I probably can't go. XD But, from what I understand, it works somewhat similar to Gasshuukoku in that there are many events spread out around Odaiba, but obviously, they're all centered around idols instead of Fuji TV programming. But, I don't think there are any open areas, so a pass is required to access all of the TIF events. You can choose to buy a one or two day pass, and that will grant you access to any TIF event you wish to attend within that timeframe. But, again, this is just my understanding of how it works based on the materials I've read. Cicily has actually been to one before, so maybe he can tell you how it really works.

Offline cicily

  • Member+
  • Posts: 94
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #24 on: April 03, 2013, 05:55:14 AM »
As Kei and Silverbolt mentioned, I was fortunate enough to go to TIF last year. It was a really good experience, and I encourage anyone here who can go to try and make it this year.

Assuming the format and ticketing and what not doesn't change this year, here are just some additional comments/answers to the questions that have been posted:

1. Single day tickets to TIF are 5000 yen, and a two-day pass is 9000 yen. Obviously, you should buy the two-day pass. If you are not in Japan, you basically have two options to buy tickets. You either can get a friend in Japan to buy it for you and pass it to you when you arrive (many nice folks staying in Japan on this forum), or you use a ticketing service like FDJP (http://www.fdjp.com/). I used FDJP last year, and while they are a bit more expensive (they charge a service/shipping fee), they are fast and reliable, and they send to anywhere in the world and you can pay by PayPal.

2. Last year, if you bought tickets to TIF during the opening sale, you had a chance to win a ticket to the TIF pre-event special, which ended up being the Batsuminton episode we saw with all the different idol groups. (And yes, as Kei said, I was on TV in the audience in those episodes. lol). If you want to stand a chance to win, you will probably need to go the friend route to buy your ticket instead of using a service like FDJP. However, what I did last year was to scour ticket resellers in Tokyo on the day of the special (Fri), and I was lucky enough to find someone who put their ticket on sale. That was how I got to go. The ticket reseller I used was Gorakudo. They have a website (http://www.gorakudoh.co.jp/) which you can find the availability of tickets first before going down to the store. Take note that if you do get the ticket, at the venue itself they will ask you for your name and compare it to their records. For this part, you just have to use your charm and/or quick wit to fast talk through it and explain why you have a pre-event special ticket when you are not the person who bought it originally.

3. TIF usually is smack right in the middle of Odaiba Gashukokku (USO for short). So if you are planning a trip, I would recommend staying for at least a whole week from maybe Tue/Wed to the following Wed, with TIF over the weekend. Idoling!!! usually still perform at USO even two days before TIF (those girls are machines), so if you go in on Wed, you may be lucky and still catch two Idoling!!! mini-live performances at USO before TIF over the weekend. Last year, they also released One Up!!! right after TIF, and their first handshake event was the Tue after TIF. So by staying a whole week (or more), you maximize the chance of attending as many Idoling!!! events as possible.

4. TIF is basically a collection of closed stages and open areas (9 last year?) set up around Odaiba primarily around the Fuji TV Wangan Studio building and Zepp DiverCity. Some stages are open to the public without ticket, but most you will need a ticket to visit. THERE WILL BE A LOT OF RUNNING AROUND. Although there is a food court nearby and other food options, forget about eating lunch on both days - make sure you eat a big breakfast and treat yourself to a nice supper after the last stage of each day. Please also stock up on your water supply in your backpack. There are maybe 2-3 convenience stores around the area, and most of them had no beverages left by mid day. Seriously, I've never seen a convenience store where the whole fridge/cooler section is empty.

5. The TIF schedule is set up in a way that in theory, it *should* be possible to catch every single Idoling!!!-related performance, although some will require you to either have the power of flight or teleportation if you don't want to be late to any performances. Many Idoling!!! members do MC a lot of the stages as well, even for other idol groups, so you won't be able to catch everything.

6. Lastly, I stayed in a hotel in Shinjuku last time, but cheaper options are available. The commute to Odaiba from Shinjuku is quite fast on JR. If you have more money to spend, there is a bloody expensive hotel right in the middle of Odaiba as well, very close to the FujiTV main building. Alternatively, one can forgo sleep on Sat night (I heard some fans did just that), since the last show on Sat ends at 3am (an "adult" idol stage), and Umeko's morning Kayo show started at 6am (or something ridiculous) the next day morning. :) Obviously, you will still need somewhere to stay if you plan to stay a whole week. :)

FYI, here are some photos taken from TIF and USO last year on the Idoling!!! FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.10151145427746983&type=1
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.10151155351336983&type=1
« Last Edit: April 03, 2013, 07:07:23 AM by cicily »

Offline hellguard89

  • 白騎士
  • Member+
  • Posts: 256
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #25 on: April 03, 2013, 06:19:52 AM »
I haven't been to any TIF yet but I'm thinking of going this year depending on the how hot it gets since I can't really stand Japanese summer:P

If any of you are coming to Japan for TIF, Gasshuukoku or any Idoling!!! event, I'll be willing to guide you if I'm free on the day. I can help with the tickets since re-sellers do costs more than the face price.

IIRC you have to exchange the ticket for a bracelet that permits you to enter the pay-zone of the event (which were stages inside Wangan studio and Zepp Diver City). The number on ticket is only for the time-slot you get to exchange the bracelet i.e 1-1000 from 7:30 a.m, 1001-2000 from 8:00 a.m. I think you have to plan out the day well ahead so that you have time to line-up and get good seats for your favourite idols.

For a place to stay, look for place that have easy access to Odaiba. Anything along the Yamanote line or the Keihin-Tohoku line is fine since you have easy access to the Yurikamome line and Rinkai line to go to Odaiba but be warned, train fees to Odaiba is not cheap.

Offline qwiksXnd

  • Member+
  • Posts: 286
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #26 on: April 03, 2013, 11:07:46 AM »
TIF 2012 was easily the best Japan experience I've ever had. I highly, highly recommend it. I've been to Japan four times the past two years, mainly for concerts (PASSPO, Idoling, SUPER GiRLS, predia, Ayumi Hamasaki, Exile ) and TIF was easily the best experience. Nothing comes close imo, whether it's an anniversary concert, birthday concert, special live, everything pales in comparison with TIF. Its two full days of idol music, compared to a 2 hour concert. Day 1 last year lasted from 10AM until 6AM, the following day (although I didn't stay that long, it's mainly underground groups performing during those hours) but the point is no single concert or even a series of concerts can compare.

I actually just went back to Japan for spring break last week, mainly for the SUPER GiRLS tour (saw them in Tokyo and then twice in Osaka) and also went to a predia concert and himekyun fruit can live, and it was pretty tiring doing all that in five days. TIF on the other hand is so convenient, everything is centrally located and the tickets are extremely inexpensive. A typical concert is 3,000-5,500 yen for a 1-2 hour show (and if you want nice seats, you have to go resale which are 3-10X face value, depending on the popularity of the group - when I saw Idoling in 2011 I paid 13,000Y for a 4th row ticket and 18,000Y for a 1st row - I'm not very savvy though when it comes to finding good deals), but TIF is around 8,000 yen for two full days of concerts. You don't have to worry about resale tickets and it is the best opportunity to see a group from the front rows (you just have to make sure to plan your schedule in advance because there is strategy involved in maximizing the experience). If you are mainly going to Japan for j-pop/idols, then it's the best time to visit. Especially if you are an Idoling fan since they are the most active at TIF.

Last year I flew out of Los Angeles and landed at Haneda nonstop for $980 USD. A few days later I saw tickets as low as $880, but I think they stopped in Honolulu. I use expedia and check any Tokyo airport, I prefer Haneda to Narita because it's much nicer (the international terminal opened last year I think), it's slightly closer to Tokyo than Narita is, and if you need to exchange money the banks there are open very late (at least past midnight), while they close early at Narita (although I haven't landed at Narita since 2011 so maybe things have changed).

Sorry for the sloppy post, but basically my point is TIF is absolutely the best time to visit Japan if you are primarily going for concerts. With that being said, I probably won't go this year. The only performer left that I absolutely needed to see was Mano Erina and evidently she retired XD. Actually I just remembered GEM, I'd probably go to see them. Depends on the lineup... the reveal so far has been really weak compared to last year.

^ I agree about the weather. Tokyo can be very hot and humid in the summer, and there is always the possibility of rain, which could ruin TIF considering the number of outdoor stages. Last year it rained for less than a minute while I was watching AeLL. But outside of that it wasn't too hot. It was so fun that I didn't really pay much attention to the weather.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2013, 11:42:10 AM by qwiksXnd »

Offline AEUGNewtype

  • Member+
  • Posts: 171
  • ♥ まいぷる ♥
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #27 on: April 03, 2013, 08:14:58 PM »
Man, you guys are giving tons of good information! Unfortunately, it seems like I'd be the only non-local fan going this year, if I did go, which is really depressing :( I want to go so badly, but don't feel terribly comfortable running around Japan by myself for almost a week and spending $3000+ to go there (I could buy a house...) :( Hopefully someone else will end up able to go or I'll be able to reduce the price a little, but things aren't looking too good at this point.

Offline neonero

  • Member+
  • Posts: 127
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #28 on: April 29, 2013, 10:17:12 AM »
I have a question, not about TIF but still about Idoling!!! lives and travel.
I see there is a Ncohachi live scheduled on May 18 and a Shibuhachi lve on May 22. I see that you have to register to a lotery in order to get a ticket for these lives. But I wonder if there's any other possibility to get a ticket for one or the other live, like resselers.
If someone can help, please do.

Offline Hatix

  • Idolinger!!!
  • Member+
  • Posts: 544
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #29 on: April 29, 2013, 02:45:53 PM »
The lottery is only for the fan club tickets.
There is always regular ticket sales, although I'm not sure during which period but definitely after the fan club sales period has ended. According to the site there is also same day ticket sales, but I'm presuming thar is only if there are still tickets left...
You could try reseller shops or auctions as a last resort.

Offline neonero

  • Member+
  • Posts: 127
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #30 on: April 29, 2013, 07:12:35 PM »
Ah, I see now. The general tickets are available at Lawson's Loppi service sometimes after the fan club tickets are sold.
Looks like I'll have to check the availability of the tckets once I'm in Tokyo.
Thanks Hatix.

Offline hellguard89

  • 白騎士
  • Member+
  • Posts: 256
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #31 on: May 10, 2013, 12:26:13 PM »
For those who can't make it in time for TIF, your luck couldn't be better. New single is going to be released in 7th August and they will probably have release events and handshake events scheduled during July/August or maybe as early as June.

Offline cicily

  • Member+
  • Posts: 94
Re: Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 & travel discussion
« Reply #32 on: May 14, 2013, 04:53:01 PM »
TIF2013 press conference video. Love Ruri's quote at the beginning. :thumbup





BTW, the TIF web site has been refreshed. The list of participating idol groups are beginning to pile up:

http://idolfes.com/2013/lineup/

JPHiP Radio (16/200 @ 128 kbs)     Now playing: Tomosaka Rie - Shoujo Robot