Attending AKB48 handshakes: how-to (work in progress)

Hey I have a question

I am from Thailand but when I bought 2 shot ticket. I typed my name in Kanji which is really hard to read. It wasn't even closed to my real name. Anyway I put my phonetic in katakana (Actually it should be both katakana)

So will the staff let me in the event? Or if I show the detail for my order lists. Shall I be alright? I'm so concerned because this upcoming event will be my first time. Thank you

 

I have used kanji, katakana and romaji for my name. Didn't have a problem at all.

Edit: When you walk into the venue, the staff is going ask for just your ticket. No Identification needed.

Just bring your passport, tickets and invoice(just in case) to the info booth, first after you enter the venue. Don't go directly to the Slot Lane until you go to the info booth. Get ALL your tickets stamp by them and it's smooth sailing from there.

Oh you have a Slot 1 ticket? Ok you need to get to the event early. Like before the door opens. Many time I made the mistake of having Slot 1 tickets and having the Lane close. Because I didn't make it on time and the Line being too long.

Some advice for you.

 

As long you have Identification (like ur passport) that proves this kanji name on your ticket is you then you will be fine. If your passport is in English, they're going to ask you why you used kanji and ask for proof that this kanji name is really you.

 

I'm attending the shamekai for thumbnail on 3/20. I've read everything posted in this thread but still have a few questions. I've only been to the 2nd sportsfest so this is my first handshake type event. thanks in advance.

1) If I'm not able to translate to English the map with the lane numbers that's posted a few days before the event, will I be able to figure out at the venue where a specific girl is? If so how?
2) What time will the information booth be open if the first round is at 9:30? Also where will the info booth be? (from a not having a map perspective) Also how long will it take to get your tickets stamped? -- I know this depends on how many people are lined up but any estimate especially for the morning round?
3) So the tickets come in these perforated sheets, should I detach the tickets or leave as is?
4) To confirm, you first line up on the left side all the time? -- whether you are pre-queuing or already lining up when the round has started
5) There was a post about picking a pose -- are there poses to choose from or are there standard ones that people already know about?
6) Lastly, again to confirm, in a two-shot event, is it okay to shake the girl's hand at the start (or at the end?). Do you offer your hand first or are you supposed to wait if they offer theirs?

I think that's about it (still a lot despite reading all the information here). Thank you very much!

 

1) There will be big number signs of the lane, so as long as you know your member's number you should do fine.
2) It would be open when they open the venue, probably around an hour before. I never know exactly where, but just walk a circle and it should be pretty obvious. Check for teams of staff behind a table stamping tickets. Usually there's OJS security booth right next to it too. They stamp each ticket like 3 times, usually I had to wait 5-10 mins when there was a line.
3) I always detach them and binded them with a rubber band before I go to an event.
4) It's.. a line up so whereever people line up it should be there. It should be pretty obvious, never thought of it as left or right.
5) Heart pose is pretty much the default, but members sometimes have their own signature pose. If you can communicate with them what pose you want usually they'll do it. If you have no idea you can just ask them but from experience they just default back to heart pose or something.
6) Supposedly it is handshake after photo. So give staff your phone, tell member the pose, take photo, handshake, bye.

 

Also just to add regarding handshake, some girls will stand up to shake hands with you after the photo so you might want to expect that! That happened to me with Juri and I saw Sakura and Komiharu do likewise whilst I was watching them from adjacent lanes.

 

Thank you very much Nieru! and Cris!

The tricky part is finding out what lane number a member has as that info will be at the king records website and the name will be in hiragana. If there are signs in romaji I should look for those so thanks. And I just thought about it earlier but I suppose I have the names I'm looking for in the tickets which are in hiragana and I can look for the same symbol from the king records list and figure out the lane number.

Sorry but last two questions:
1) Is there some other common pose other than heart pose? Heart pose is fine but I have 3 tickets for mayuyu for example so I guess at least one other pose would be needed lol.
2) Is it alright to greet sakura happy birthday? -- it's her birthday the day before. I know it's a two-shot event and not a 7-10 second handshake but it might be rude not to greet someone on her birthday (?) unless talking is prohibited.

Thank you again! -- I'm really grateful to everyone that's helped me out, I'm really looking forward to this and I hope I figure things out especially after getting a lot of help.

edit: Thanks also David! I guess I can ask you for sakura and mayu's lane number since you have them too haha.

 

Last year I prepared a list of the girls I was seeing in Romaji and Kanji (I copied and pasted names from the Wiki) and then I added the lane numbers when they were announced. Although it was useful it wasn't essential - as @Nieru says, the girls' names appear in Romaji at the venue and the lanes are arranged by group (e.g. SKE-HKT-AKB-NMB) so it should be easy to find who you're looking for.

I'm no expert in poses but the peace sign is also very popular. Also I'm sure any friendly short greeting is fine including 'Happy Birthday'!

One other thing I could maybe suggest is to quickly greet each girl using their name as you sit down for the photo (and use their nickname, I got a nice smile from Dasu when I did that). I'm only saying that because I didn't greet Jurina by her name and as I was leaving the booth after the handshake she called out to me "Do you know who I am"! Then again maybe Jurina was just being Jurina lol.

 

Good idea, I'll do a hiragana list I guess but I'll look for the romaji list at the venue since that's much easier.

Ah, thanks very much for the tip regarding saying their nickname -- I suppose it's good for foreigners to show you know about them.

Also, would there be food/drinks that you can buy at the venue? At the sportsfest at ariake last year there wasn't any inside the venue.

 

You can bring food and drinks in to the venue if you want. (You can enter and leave the venue as you please, it's just u will need to go through security check again when you come back) Bottled drinks u will havta open it and take a sip at the security check, no cans or glass bottles. There will also be food stand and places to buy drinks inside the venue, but of course with marked up price.

 

Thanks! I've seen the check where they ask you to sip from your drink but I didn't know that cans aren't allowed. Ah that's good if there's a food stand. Probably a long line too aside from higher prices.

Would there be a place to buy merchandise? And would they have event-specific goods or just things you would also find at the akbshop? At the akb sportsfest they were selling a team shirt among other things.
Also, prior to the start, there are lots of people with binders, do they only trade or would they also sell?
Sorry I'm asking a lot of questions.

 

Even though you have to pass back through security I'd recommend stepping outside the venue once in while even just to get some fresh air as the atmosphere inside can be stiflingly hot. In any case there's normally a food vending place nearby with cheaper prices and a wider range than you'd get inside. I recall that some fans were trading stuff outside but I must admit I didn't take much notice.

One final piece of advice from me - just relax and enjoy the day!

 

I alway escaped the crowd and went out to nearby mall/hotel to chill in more comfort between long breaks in my schedule. Hotels generally have better food for lunch too than food stalls or other limited choices at these random venue spots like Makuhari and Osaka Intex.

 

Thanks again everyone for all the very useful information!!!

There's so many akb members though but hopefully team 8 is in one place. I might not have time to go far during the rounds, have mostly 3 per round and many are sold out. But I did get backup tickets of certain members for different rounds in case I miss the 3rd member in some rounds. And there's also the autograph tickets to fit in lol. I think I just need to get the tickets stamped and the first round done to get used to how it is.

That's good news about the goods, I'll be sure to check it out.

Thank you again!

 

Here's a hot protip: When you're waiting to get your tickets stamped, there's usually a map/information board nearby with all the members and their lane numbers for that day. I use this time to look at that and write down their numbers in my phone. The names are all in kanji though, but hopefully you can remember what they look like.

 

I've managed to find the lane list for the 2-shot event I attended last year: http://www.kingrecords.co.jp/img/usr/akb48/20160321-yokohama-member.pdf

Although it only uses Japanese alphabets, if you scroll down to the second page it shows that there's a colour-coding system for AKB48 teams and sister groups which helps. The lane list for each event is usually posted on the King Records site about 2 or 3 days beforehand, and if my memory serves me right there should also be a link posted on the AKB48 Official Blog.

 

Are the result of resale round will have a connection with the previous 1-8 round ?

I mean , if i didnt pay the lottery i got from the resale round , they will not cancel my previous order aren't it ?

Bcos i set my previous order payment on cash on deliverry