Ticket sales to undergo overhaul

[Kintamayama 45,543]

Yes, that's right, you read right. The Kyokai has decided to finally respond to the deep recession they are in. It seems the surprising last three days of manin onrei (full house) in Nagoya whetted their appetite.. They have decided to switch from passive to active mode concerning ticket sales and the system. They are already openly saying there will be "open" sales (by phone etc..) and are hinting at undermining the huge powerbase of the chayas. Instead of targeting the "keeping" of the veteran die hard Sumo fans , they are going to try to bring in new fans or "lost" fans, by modernizing the ticket sale system. No concrete plans are mentioned, but if it happens, it will start fom Hatsu 2006. No more "this area is for the corporate sector" stuff is hinted as well- they are talking about a "wide open ticket selling program".

This is great news, for sure, but will it happen? The major changes the Kyokai publicly promised happened relatively quickly after they were announced- No Smoking was one which most of us laughed at, but it happened. Kosho abolishment and the expansion was another quick resolution that happened.

We shall see..

Edited August 8, 2005 by Kintamayama

[Mark Buckton 1]

you'll find they are already increasing the numbers of same day tickets available which is perfect AFAIAC - hope they'll take credit cards next!!!!!

more/ numbers linked on SFM a few days back IIRC

[Kathy 0]

Yes, that's right, you read right. The Kyokai has decided to finally respond to the deep recession they are in. It seems the surprising last three days of manin onrei (full house) in Nagoya whetted their appetite..  They have decided to switch from passive to active mode concerning ticket sales and the system. They are already openly saying there will be "open" sales (by phone etc..) and are hinting at undermining the huge powerbase of the chayas. Instead of  targeting the "keeping" of  the veteran die hard Sumo fans , they are going to try to bring in new fans  or "lost" fans, by modernizing the ticket sale system. No concrete plans are mentioned, but if it happens, it will start fom Hatsu 2006. No more "this area is for the corporate sector" stuff is hinted as well- they are talking about a "wide open ticket selling program".

This is great news, for sure, but will it happen? The major changes the Kyokai publicly promised happened relatively quickly after they were announced- No Smoking was one which most of us laughed at, but it happened. Kosho abolishment and the expansion was another quick resolution  that happened.

We shall see..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just an idea, but they might be able to draw in the foreign trade if they were able to make ticket sales multilingual. (Clapping wildly...)

Kathy

[Mark Buckton 1]

sales staff do speak bits of English but pretty broken - depends on who is there when you go. Interesting idea though Kathy - what languages would you suggest.

Also - on PR / ads - saw today the Aki basho poster was up in smaller form on the trains through Ryogoku - never noticed it before but could have been there - Nishi?

[Guest Worst Technical Wrestler]

Since they already lowered the prices of the tickets, these reforms seems to be a part of some large program to gain new fans. Other sports have increased their number of viewers so much that sumo must "jump into the game". That is to say, to recognize they must promote sumo as sport, not as art.

[Asashosakari 19,687]

That is to say, to recognize they must promote sumo as sport, not as art.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, sumo hasn't really been promoted as anything until now. They've mostly lived off of their centuries-old reputation as the national sport, and hoped that the audience-drawing magic of the 1990s top rivalries would come back sometime soon (which it hasn't).

It probably doesn't come across as such to a newer fan (I don't mean to be patronizing with that), but attempting to revamp their ticket sales operations is positively revolutionary for the Kyokai. Kinta has hinted at a few facts in his post; more information can be found here, for instance.

Edited August 10, 2005 by Asashosakari

[Mark Buckton 1]

on tickets - bought one of the 'every day' tickets today - only 30 were put on sale (on the 6th) and they are still selling today - 5th day!!

[Jonosuke 28]

Aside from getting into the Chaya thing again, I hope they can increase more of those 2 seat Masu boxes. They give you more space so more comfortable for those of us who tend to hang around there from 9 or 10 AM.

I also think they could expand those chair and table box sections on the last row of the Kokugikan. They are really nice as you can sit on chair and since there is a table you can have both beer bottles and food in the middle, too bad they don't serve pizza but that's another story.

I also have this idea about the second floor - since they are all far away from the dohyo, they could put a big screen on each side (so there will be four). I think it will be a great incentive to go up there to see replays and slowmo actions on the screen. I am sure dozens or so fans will love to seen a slow replay of Tosanoumi falling facing down getting hit by another henka.

Hey, is there an opening for Kyokai's Marketing department yet or anyone has a cell number for Kitanoumi (Clapping wildly...)

Edited August 10, 2005 by Jonosuke

[Kintamayama 45,543]

Aside from getting into the Chaya thing again, I hope they can increase more of those 2 seat Masu boxes. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In the meantime, 5 chayas (actually, 5 "counters", if you've seen them) went under in Osaka, it was announced yesterday. "Ceasing of business", I believe is the correct wording. That's 5 out of the existing 14. 2 others already went out of business two years ago due to slow sales of tickets.

I looks like the NSK will have to look into changing ticket sale policy in Osaka as well.

BTW, the "ticket revolution" is planned only for Tokyo at this point. Reminder: The non-smoking policy was planned initially for non-Tokyo bashos, but snowballed into the whole shebang.

Will we be seeing a Hokkaido or Aomori honbasho during our tenure?

Edited August 10, 2005 by Kintamayama

[Kathy 0]

sales staff do speak bits of English but pretty broken - depends on who is there when you go. Interesting idea though Kathy - what languages would you suggest.

Also - on PR / ads - saw today the Aki basho poster was up in smaller form on the trains through Ryogoku - never noticed it before but could have been there - Nishi?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Doug and I were going to go to Japan for the Basho, but weren't sure how to order advance tickets, since the website says in "Japanese only." If they had a translator for ticket sales, it might bring in more tourists. We love to watch it on TV. When we saw that they were coming to Las Vegas, we were thrilled. We have tickets for all 3 days. I'd still like to visit Japan.

Kathy

[Danjinoumi 10]

A rather late addition to this thread ...

I don't understand why the Kyokai doesn't set up a website like the one Chunichi had for the Nagoya Basho, in Japanese, English, and Chinese, with seating charts and the whole nine yards. It was absolutely fantastic. On the other hand, I don't know if Chunichi provided an international ticket delivery service, but the website certainly was a good start. AFAIK, to buy tickets to the other basho requires a phone call to the Kyokai or ticket vendor, or a personal visit to a place that sells tickets.

Am I wrong, or wouldn't a website make buying tickets a heck of a lot easier for the general (international as well as domestic) public? This is the 21st century, after all ...

[Jonosuke 28]

On the other hand, I don't know if Chunichi provided an international ticket delivery service, but the website certainly was a good start. AFAIK, to buy tickets to the other basho requires a phone call to the Kyokai or ticket vendor, or a personal visit to a place that sells tickets.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Moti has been diligently reporting for us this ticket thing (for instance you can buy them at JR's Midori No Madoguchi ticket counter at major train stations now) so if you search the Forum you probably find more information on where and who in Japan you can get tickets from however the point for us is "online".

Currently they do not ship them abroad so even if you understand Japanese, you are out of luck if you are trying to order them from the Kyokai site. There are a few other online sites you can order from but again there will be a problem of not getting non-Japanese bank issued credit card accepted or sending the money through a bank located outside Japan.

eBay could be the answer but sooner or later some enterprising souls will come up with an online sales venture but I am not holding my breath.

[sumofan 6]

eBay could be the answer but sooner or later some enterprising souls will come up with an online sales venture but I am not holding my breath.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i would do this if i thought there was a market. but how many people actually come that don't know how to get tickets?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

when i will finaly be able to make my trip to Japan (in about 20 years or so) i will buy the tickets from you.

otoh, i might buy them in person so that we can have a drink together (do they sell draught guinness in Japan?)

Offtopic: since last month there is an Irish pub close to where i live. yaaaaay.

[Jakusotsu 6,052]

do they sell draught guinness in Japan?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They do. There's even a British style pub near Ryogoku station.

[Takanorappa 97]

They do. There's even a British style pub near Ryogoku station.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Like this one?

There's a Calpis machine not 50 meters from it, though, so I stayed only a short while. (Hugging...)

[Mark Buckton 1]

They do. There's even a British style pub near Ryogoku station.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Like this one?

There's a Calpis machine not 50 meters from it, though, so I stayed only a short while. (Hugging...)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

no - to the right of that there is a place called the London Pub (directly under rail lines). Japanese British Pub though with that fine range of British beers - Kirin, Asahi and the like - oh and the standard 'Bass' that I have not seen for a million years in the UK pubs.

[Mark Buckton 1]

also - the leaflet for ticket sales is bi-lingual (J/E) but on the bottom of the English side says there is japanese only in the office. At least they made the effort I guess.