always nice to see many questions! hehe
- yes, lottery tickets can be printed by just showing the barcode to the 7-11 cashier, while the accomodation plan tickets are given at the entrance of the exhibition, there is a table and staff member sittings, waiting to give you the tickets (you need to show your passport, your confirmation email and bring also your credit/debit card used to make the payment, that's important).
- exhibition is open all day (check the website for more information, since the times change depending on the day/location), but! if you only have accomodation plan tickets, then the first time getting them you'll have to wait for the accomodation plan staff to be available at the table I think is around 10:00am? also, the entrance line will be long, so be sure to ask to the staff (usually at end of line) which is the correct line, because first you need to get in the line to get the accomodation plan tickets, then you get in the general entrance line. the following days, if you already have the tickets (also from lottery), just get in the general entrance line.
- all goods booths are inside the exhibition hall, and especially the official goods, Volks and Goods Smile Company booths have very, very long lines (think of 30min-1 hour line on average). Usually in Tokyo, in the concert venue, there is a small shop selling some official goods (including the glowsticks). The stock for glowsticks is usually good, but you can buy a not branded led glowsticks at shops like Animate or Donki (Don Quijote, they sell everything). Some goods will go sold out in the first hours, that is normal, but they restock them the following days, so you can check about them again. Tokyo is the most crowded situation, Osaka is better in terms of enjoying the exhibition and getting more goods (since there are a bit less people). Fukuoka last year was the most enjoyable and so relaxing, I think this year Sendai will be too.
- You can line up 2-3 hours before, that's ok ^-^ but again, if you only have accomodation plan, the first time getting the ticket you have to wait until around 10 or 11 am (they will tell you the time), so there is no need to line up early. It's nice to line up in the early morning, that's an experience you should do at least once hehe
- for the merchandise, especially Good Smile Company booth sell lots of figures, so you surely need some bags. The official bag from the official store is a good shoulder bag, but I always recommend to carry a backpack, so you have hands free for taking photos, videos and carry more bags. Backpack is also so useful to store drinks and snacks (restaurants and convenience stores like 7eleven, Family Mart and Lawson are outside the exhibition, some vending machines are inside the venue). Then yes, after you have enough bags, is better to go back to hotel (or use a coin locker around the venue or the train station). When you enter, they give you a wrist paper bracelet, that is your re-entry ticket for that day, so you can easily exit and re-entry from the re-entry entrance.
- to buy goods, you can use cash, credit/debit cards and the IC cards like Pasmo and Suica (recommended, you can buy them for 500yen at any station ticket machine and charge with cash money and then use it for the train/metro, vending machines and any shop that accept IC card, basically all)
- it's ok to enter the concert venue with some bags, but since the seats space is limited (you can put some bags in front of you and under your seat), is better to bring just your backpack and one bag, then leave the others at the hotel/coin locker
- about your friend, the accomodation plan was the same? I mean, you selected 2 tickets and maybe same hotel room during the same application? then yes, surely seat together.
- is very easy to find your reserved seat, for Osaka there is line 1-2-3-.. seat Y, and for Tokyo there is block A-B-C-.. seat 1-2-..-100 (each block has around 100 seats) there is sticker behind each seat with the correct number, also lots of staff member ready to help you finding the seat, dont worry ^-^
- yes, lottery tickets can be printed by just showing the barcode to the 7-11 cashier, while the accomodation plan tickets are given at the entrance of the exhibition, there is a table and staff member sittings, waiting to give you the tickets (you need to show your passport, your confirmation email and bring also your credit/debit card used to make the payment, that's important).
- exhibition is open all day (check the website for more information, since the times change depending on the day/location), but! if you only have accomodation plan tickets, then the first time getting them you'll have to wait for the accomodation plan staff to be available at the table I think is around 10:00am? also, the entrance line will be long, so be sure to ask to the staff (usually at end of line) which is the correct line, because first you need to get in the line to get the accomodation plan tickets, then you get in the general entrance line. the following days, if you already have the tickets (also from lottery), just get in the general entrance line.
- all goods booths are inside the exhibition hall, and especially the official goods, Volks and Goods Smile Company booths have very, very long lines (think of 30min-1 hour line on average). Usually in Tokyo, in the concert venue, there is a small shop selling some official goods (including the glowsticks). The stock for glowsticks is usually good, but you can buy a not branded led glowsticks at shops like Animate or Donki (Don Quijote, they sell everything). Some goods will go sold out in the first hours, that is normal, but they restock them the following days, so you can check about them again. Tokyo is the most crowded situation, Osaka is better in terms of enjoying the exhibition and getting more goods (since there are a bit less people). Fukuoka last year was the most enjoyable and so relaxing, I think this year Sendai will be too.
- You can line up 2-3 hours before, that's ok ^-^ but again, if you only have accomodation plan, the first time getting the ticket you have to wait until around 10 or 11 am (they will tell you the time), so there is no need to line up early. It's nice to line up in the early morning, that's an experience you should do at least once hehe
- for the merchandise, especially Good Smile Company booth sell lots of figures, so you surely need some bags. The official bag from the official store is a good shoulder bag, but I always recommend to carry a backpack, so you have hands free for taking photos, videos and carry more bags. Backpack is also so useful to store drinks and snacks (restaurants and convenience stores like 7eleven, Family Mart and Lawson are outside the exhibition, some vending machines are inside the venue). Then yes, after you have enough bags, is better to go back to hotel (or use a coin locker around the venue or the train station). When you enter, they give you a wrist paper bracelet, that is your re-entry ticket for that day, so you can easily exit and re-entry from the re-entry entrance.
- to buy goods, you can use cash, credit/debit cards and the IC cards like Pasmo and Suica (recommended, you can buy them for 500yen at any station ticket machine and charge with cash money and then use it for the train/metro, vending machines and any shop that accept IC card, basically all)
- it's ok to enter the concert venue with some bags, but since the seats space is limited (you can put some bags in front of you and under your seat), is better to bring just your backpack and one bag, then leave the others at the hotel/coin locker
- about your friend, the accomodation plan was the same? I mean, you selected 2 tickets and maybe same hotel room during the same application? then yes, surely seat together.
- is very easy to find your reserved seat, for Osaka there is line 1-2-3-.. seat Y, and for Tokyo there is block A-B-C-.. seat 1-2-..-100 (each block has around 100 seats) there is sticker behind each seat with the correct number, also lots of staff member ready to help you finding the seat, dont worry ^-^
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Since I want to be there in 2026 specifically I've been thinking of going for accommodation instead of risking the international raffle despite the costs. But does anyone know how getting a good seat works? Is it random either way? If raffle vs. accommodation has a better chance of getting a good seat, so I can clearly see my beloveds face, I would love to know!! I'm trying to balance saving money and getting a good spot vs. losing the raffle entirely and not getting to go at all but its hard to tell what my chances are.
I will go to celebrate anyways but I won't have my hopes up to high. I want to believe he might have more merch at expo or at least one more song. But it seems like he still just got one song on his 10th anniversary? How sad for him...
I applied for 3 and didn’t win any either, so many of us are now hoping that round 2 will deliver some good news.