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

Unfortunately, AKS just hired Thanos to deal with International Affairs...

 

Amex and JCB work regardless of country of issue, mostly. Some chinese fans had problem with their JCB but most were fine

 

Can I use anyone else Japanese credit card? I have a friend studying in Japan and also a wota. I hope I can use his Japanese credit card.

 

Just checked and Amex works flawlessly with forTUNEmusic too.

Edit: official AKB shop too.

 

Does anyone know the approximate upper limit of tickets for matome at national handshake event for top members (Okada Nana specifically)? I haven't done matome before and I know there is a limit to how many tickets 1 person can use, but I would like to know what to expect so I don't end up with leftover tickets I can't use at the end.

 

When are the next single's handshake sales likely to start? I'm trying to budget ahead since there's a lot going on over the summer.

 

Thank you, that was everything I needed to know!

 

If you come in October just pray they will have zenkoku HS, and then buy limited edition cd here as much as you want. Then go to the venue. You can have the JR Pass after all, so no matter where they hold it you can easily go there.

 

So I messed up and half my tickets for the November handshakes have the wrong name (well not wrong just in katakana not in english) and even after emailing them they wont change it.

Do I still pay for them and hope that with all the printed out order and the credit card I used to pay for them (my barclaycard which is a VISA worked no issues btw) and my passport as well as the other set I bought in the 3rd round which are from the same account that they let me still use them?

or do I just cut my loses and cry because the main girls I wanted to meet are in that set...

 

I applied in 2 different rounds with the same account, for the 2nd round I have my name in katakana because it wouldn't accept it in full width (none of the tutorials i read said it needed to be in capitals to work) so I just left it as katakana and assumed i'd be able to change it. Once I found I won the ballots in the 2nd round I decided to apply for more in the 3rd round to fill up the day so I wasn't doing nothing for 3 sessions while I waited for the final one. By that point I had figured out it needed to be capitals. The address and other information is the same on both but between the 2 orders I changed the name from katakana to romanji as I read on here about it needing to match your passport when i went to get them stamped as the passport doesn't have the address on it.

So its all on the same account, will be paid with the same card, but 1 will say MICHAELA and the other ミケラ (and surnames), does that make sense?

 

Make sense for me, but you might be asked when it get stamped. I believe you have other photo ID that has your address on it. So better to also bring it just in case.

Dang, I just know that to change it into romaji it needs to be all capitals
Until now (even for all the rounds I won for the latest single) my name still in katakana. The first time I did it the staff said that it is better for me to change it to romaji. However, as I use my residence card, it stated my address as well. So they can also match it with the one in their database.
The second time I use it they didn't asked me anything. So, maybe cross your finger and hope for the best As Cris said, no one here works for chara-ani.

 

It also took me a long time to work out how to enter my name in Romaji (i.e. all capitals) by which time I'd already attended 2 Chara-ani events (using Katakana) without any problems or queries from the staff, but at a Fortune Music one (an NMB48 IHS) I was asked to use Romaji in future. My impression of Chara-ani staff is that they're always friendly and helpful but again, as Cris says, no-one here works for them to say exactly what might happen.

 

I guess I'll pay for them anyway and just hope. its not like i bought many, and i dont want to lose the chance to meet Myao & Akarin.

Its not my address, its my friends so I don't have any ID for it. It kept just saying full-width, and I just typed it out full width but in normal case, another tutorial had a link to a converter and again it just turned it into full width but only the M was capital.

Thank you all for your replies, I will just keep my fingers crossed when I get there

 

this is prolli wuts going to happen. they will ask you why theres a difference in the name. Regardless what you say to them what they will do is look up your acc to see if you cheated. Once they find out they were not from diff accounts and not used to apply during the same round, they will stamp the tickets and let u use it. They will however tell you that they're only allowing u to do so this time, and to not do this again. lol

 

Agree with Sakuraism. Just in case, the Japanese word for full width character is zenkakumoji (全角文字). Maybe prepare the reasoning sentence beforehand. If you cannot speak in Japanese yet, I believe many can help you with that here. let us know if you need help.

 

The guides hint at it, albeit very subtle.
Most of them tell you to input your name like it's written in your passport. De-facto standard for machine readable travel documents is ICAO Document 9303. It recommends the use of uppercase characters and most countries adhere to it.

That said, I also ran into this problem when i registered my account (doesn't help that the error message on chara-ani is misleading).

 

my account it's still in katakana, better change my passport and my real name now, lol.

 

I used katakana for my name because my name as it appears on my ID does not fit. I have now been to 4 handshake events and 3/4 of the time I got my tickets stamped without comment (including one time with 2 different addresses on the tickets). The other time the woman checking said I need to change my name next time to use English characters and I said it is too long and she said "ah" and that was that.

Edit: Also I take it they've changed the system because now my name fits. I've just changed it.