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

Thanks!! That is very detailed and comprehensive!
Thumbs up! (where is the like button lol?)

 

Got asked a couple questions about the address checks that have happened at the recent 2-shot events. Figured it would be better to post here since it's probably a question that several people may have (and who knows based on today what kind of security measures are going to happen moving forward).

At the 2-shot event yesterday, the staff got very strict about your ID having an address, and in some cases even requesting that you verbally tell them your address in Japanese. Which for those of us with International passports, is not going to be possible. There have been times in the past where there has been confusion over the lack of an address in our passports (I hit this at a HS event last December), and it's come up a couple times at the previous 2-shot events.

First off, don't be too concerned about this. Management knows that fans come from overseas, know that they use deputy services and friends to receive the packages, and that their passports won't have an address (or even a country) that matches the shipping address. The problem is that the event staff doesn't know this and are just following the rules as they are told. They are temp workers for the most part and are just being over-eager about sticking to the rules.

The easy solution is to arrive early, and go to the Information Booth to have your passport checked and tickets stamped. This is how to do it:

A day before the event, they will put up a blog post with lots of information like lanes, rules, and a map of the interior of the venue. On that map there is an Information booth. (see this for an example: http://www.kingrecords.co.jp/img/usr/akb48/20140524-bs-map.pdf). Make note of where it is, and on the day of the event, go there first. It's usually right as you come in, and there will likely be a line, as many Japanese fans who have moved or had CDs shipped to their office, will be getting their own tickets stamped.

When you get to the staff member, just give them your passport and tickets and they'll ask you to step to the side and wait. (yes, it freaked me out a bit at first to hand everything over, but it's Japan, so don't worry). I didn't even have to tell them why I was there, the foreign passport is enough that they know. But you could always say something like "Gaikokujin desu, passport ni juusho dewa arimasen". (I'm a foreigner, my passport doesn't have an address).

The staff member will hand your passport and tickets to another person to check on the computer. They check that the name (and I'm guessing birthdate match), then hand it back to a staff member at the front, who will stamp all your tickets with an official seal of approval. It doesn't hurt to give them the invoice too, but it's not required (I was one of the few people to do it). It will take a few minutes, but after that you are golden.

If you don't do the above, and the staff starts to question the validity of your ID, the number one rule is "Don't argue with them". The more fuss you put up, the less likely they are going to change their minds. It will be quicker to go to the Information Booth and get your tickets stamped, and then go back. (When it comes to Japan and Japanese culture, it's pretty much a given that it's useless to question the rules. It's easier to apologize and do whatever they want you to do to adhere to the rules)

One final note. Sometimes the staff at the lane won't realize they have been stamped. If you get questioned, just point to the stamp and it should be fine.

 

I had to have the above done at the event on Saturday and will confirm it wasn't that difficult. After being let through to two different AKB members with no issues, the third stopped me. She started calling over other staff members (6 in all!) before one of them took me over to the info booth. They took my passport and tickets, and a few seconds later were stamping them approved. Everything went smooth after that.

 

Since this weeks events are all cancelled,how are the odds fot the 6/14 National HS and 6/15 2shot to be cancelled or postponed as well?
I read the article and they said like they are going to improve security.
Thank you

 

This is entirely new territory, so there is no way of knowing. I had figured 5/31 was going to be postponed, but thought they would do their best to try to have the 6/1 event.

I'd recommend checking the King Records and AKB Ameba site for updates.

 

So good advice. I'm attending my first HS event next month (sooo excited!!), and I'm wondering, how many tickets is too much? Specifically, I'm going to be queuing for both Kojiharu and Nana Okada in the first slot, do you think I'll have time to see KitaRie or Yuka Tano in that slot as well? Or would that be pushing it?

 

@USA48 I believe there are better threads to be asking this in but regardless I will try to answer it for you. In general if you want to play it safe I would not go beyond more than 2 senbatsu members in a slot. With that being said I believe some of these team 4 girls like Naachan, their lines has been pretty long recently. No one here would really be able to tell you if you really can fit more or not as there are so many factors involving how long the wait could be on the day of the event. (it could be Tano's blah blah anniversary, I don't know)
My suggestion would be to apply for Tano or Kitarie if you want in the first slot, but know that there "could" be a chance you might run out of time. If you're okay with that then it's all good.
Although people would argue about the morality of applying a member you can't see when someone else could be using that ticket.

 

Thanks for the post.
I still have three tickets for the 6/15th photo event. Though who knows when that will happen.
Hopefully they won't give too much trouble for not having an address now that security is upped.
I do have a gaijin card on it with my current address in Fukuoka, but it is different than the one on my tickets, because I had to buy those way in advance (obviously)
I wonder if I could say maybe I had moved since the event had been postponed or something.

 

I think it's more like 1000 tickets per slot.
It's hard to say how many people show up at an event. Let's say 800k theatre editions are sold, and it's equally spread out amongst the 4 days of the event.
So you have 200k handshake tickets per day. But there will not be 200k people at the event. Many people buy 20, 30, 50, some even as much as 100 tickets. The number of people showing up at an event is probably less than 10,000.

 

Number of attendees per day is around 100,000. That's the number always reported in various specials and TV reports.

At 10 seconds each, the max number would only be 540, so it couldn't be 1,000. There are probably 450-500 tickets sold per slot, as even with the stopwatches, there is time lost here and there.

The extremes stick out, but most fans have less than 10 tickets. If I had to guess, I'd the average number of tickets sold per person/per event is probably 5-8.

 

Your numbers kind of contradict themselves my friend. Let's say 100,000 attendees per day as you say.
If the average number of tickets sold per person was 5-8, that would be 500,000 to 800,000 tickets (CDs) per event. But we all know Kokoro no Placard isn't going to sell 2-3 million theatre editions.
I guess the tickets are 10 seconds each, I was using 5 seconds for some reason. In any case, if the theatre edition sells 800k, that means 200k tickets per day on average. So if we say the average ticket per person is 5-8, then that means 25,000 to 40,000 people attending the event. But, personally, I believe the average number of tickets sold per person to be higher.

 

1 ticket = 10 seconds. That is the rule.

It has been stated a few times in the past by the media and management that 100,000 is the average daily attendance.

As for the average, mathematically it would be 2-2.5. (It also depends on the single, obviously the average for Election single would be higher). I was referring more to what you find when talking to fans at the event. Most usually average 5-8. I know some who have fewer, and some that have way more. I've also met people who have no tickets, but come to buy goods, trade, or just hang with friends/committees.

Keep in mind that it's not that many at any given time either. People come and go over the course of 12 hours. Peak is definitely above 50k, but for Slot 1 and Slot 7, it's probably less than 10k. But having attended a wide range of events, in multiple venues, I would say the 100k figure for the entire day is in the ballpark.

 

I dunno. I'm searching google for handshake attendance numbers for Heart Electric, Suzukake no..., and Maeshika Mukanee and not getting anything. Maybe there have been times like that but I don't think it is normal.
Average of 2-2.5 seems too low to me. That is only the price of a theatre performance ticket. And an average of 2-2.5 means that there are lots of people with less than 2 tickets. I just have a real hard time believing any body is travelling to the event for just 10 seconds of handshake time. One guy on my twitter literally has hundreds of handshake tickets for Murashige just today. Other people may have less, but I've never seen any body with just 1 or 2.

 

From the Mechaike SP with Paruru, Gingham Check had 100k in one day


Here is a quote from an official AKB48 video, circa 2010 when there were fewer members/CD sales. 60k was the average back then.


I've been to over a dozen events, I've seen the crowds at both National and Theater edition events. The crowds are smaller at the national events, and they are held in stadiums that hold 30k - 45k people.

Each event may have 200-400k sales, so mathematically the average is going to be 2-4 tickets per person. Yes, there may be a few people with 100 tickets, but this isn't the norm and I maybe see half-a-dozen fans like this at any given event (they are kind of hard to miss because they go at the end, and you can see them talking to the member for minutes at a time). There are fans who only come for a slot or two, and don't spend all day.

Anyway, I was trying to answer rka's question and not get into a debate about the math.

 

Sakura, where are you getting your information? Would it be first hand knowledge or just hearsay from the people you follow in twitter?

 

Is there a website that I can check the dates of all upcoming handshake events? Thanks in advance.

 

Now someone is editing my post...

http://48g.jp

 

Hi all, I have a couple of questions regarding 大握手会 (dai akushukai) which I believe haven't been addressed

1. How many 大握手会 (dai akushukai) are there for each single release?

2. And where are they mostly held? If I'm not wrong, I've seen online that they are held at Yokohama Pacifico, Nagoya Port Messe? So meaning there's more than 1?

3. I did some research and found out that Suzukake was release in Dec and the individual handshake event is in the following year's April. Is it the common case for the single release and individual handshake to be around 4 months apart?

Thank you for answering in advanced! They will be of great help to a newbie like me!

 

^ to add onto what cristafari said, for example KnP's HS there are hs dates that goes as far as Feb next year while there was one that was on Aug 30th. It's all on scheduling, but usually there would be 1 hs event that will be more or less closer to the release date.

@natlove Also if you're still interested what I pm-ed you about awhile back, I should be able to pump out the details soon. As for the HS date, I will keep u updated once it's announced.