How to enjoy in-store events in Japan

How to enjoy Visual-kei in-store events in Japan

*Here’s an example of the event “talk and photo session”.

1. Bands or CD shops announce in-store events on their website. Bands often do the events in some locations in Japan.

2. Check the information of the participation conditions.

3. Reserve the CD concerning the merchandise of an in-store event by going to the store or by phone.
Make sure you tell a staff you want a ticket for in-store event.
*Some shop prepares 2 types of event tickets which are like “talk and cheki” or “cheki only” because of limited numbers of people for talk session.

4. Go to the shop on the release day to buy the CD you reserved and get a numbered ticket of the event. (first-come first-served)

5. On the event day, go to the shop 15 minutes before the starting time and make a queue in order of ticketing numbers. You can hand a question paper to a staff if you’re given.

6. Members come to event space. The event starts with talk session. MC asks questions to band members. If you’re lucky, your question might be read by MC.

7. Members leave from event space for a while. You will go outside of the shop to make a queue for photo session.

8.You can take a photo with one of the members you choose. (Or sometimes with all members, depending on event conditions.)
Normally an instant camera called ‘cheki’ is used by staff. But some events require your own camera for photo shooting.
*If you want another shot with a member, you need to purchase the CD again.

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This is the real example of the in-store event which was held in Like an Edison Tokyo branch in August 2015.

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