3 big discount ticket shops in Japan | Guidable - Your Guide to a Sustainable, Wellbeing-centred Life in Japan

3 big discount ticket shops in Japan

By Guidable Writers Sep 28, 2017

Dear all of foreign visitors/students!

Have you made all of your plans already what you would like to do during staying in Japan? Maybe you would like to travel around, watch some movies, visit amusement parks such as Tokyo Disney Land/Sea and Universal Studio Japan, watch some baseball games, go to some concerts and so on. Well, do you think that you have enough knowledge to be a clever buyer for getting those tickets? Of course, you could get them at common ticket shops including some websites, however, the prices of those tickets should be regular and not discounted… and… you may have to wait for a while until you would get the actual ticket. If you live or plan to live in a big city such as Tokyo or Osaka, why don’t you visit the following discount ticket shops?

 

1.Daikokuya

 

 

Daikokuya is the most popular discount ticket shop in Japan and there are more than 200 shops in Japan, about 160 shops in Tokyo area. Most of them are located nearby train stations. You could purchase almost any tickets you need at discounted prices.

For example, the regular price of a train ticket from Tokyo to Osaka by Shinkansen (Nozomi) for a reserved seat is 14,450 JP yen while the price at Daikokuya could be between 13,200 – 13,600 JP yen. → For this Shinkansen ticket, you have to get the reserved seat at a ticket window called “Green Window” at a JR station. Or, you could make it assigned by a vending machine at such station by yourself, that is much easier than being on the line for a long time at “Green Window” once you find the way to do.

Also, you might be able to purchase the one-day free pass for Tokyo Disney land (the regular price is 7,400 JP yen) at the price of between 6,500 – 6,900 JP yen. You could search the shop that is the nearest one from where you live/plan to live at shop.e-daikoku.com/info/?lang=en. You could also find their general selling prices at this website. Furthermore, they handle some second-hand brand products such as bags, watches, jewelry and so on. Some of them are very new!!

 

 

2.Access Ticket

They have over 60 shops widely in Japan and have also on-line shop at www.access.ticket.com/shop/ although those are all written in Japanese. The prices of all tickets are similar to those of Daikokuya.

 

3.Kounan Ticket

There are 36 shops mainly in Kansai area, Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Their image-color is “Yellow” while Daikokuya is “Orange”. They sell also “Toto” that is a kind of lottery of soccer games. Would you like to bet on it?

 

 

Other shops…

 

There are more localized discount ticket shops in Japan, such as Sun Ticket, Tickety, and Marutoku Ticket. Their size is about between 4 – 6 shops/company and their shop-area is rather limited. However, basically, their selling prices are not so different from those of big chain discount shops. Also, their locations of shops are mainly close to a train station as same as the most of the big chain discount shops.

There are many discount ticket shops in Shinjuku, Tokyo, especially western to the northwestern part of Shinjuku JR station. On the other hand, please make sure to have Japanese yen in cash as all of these discount ticket shops including big 3 discount ticket shops cannot accept any of credit cards. “Oh!! I don’t usually carry Japanese yen in cash……”???  O.K., then, do you have your own country money in cash?? If so, please do not worry!! Some of these discount ticket shops have their own foreign money exchange corners and believe or not, the most of their rate of currency might be almost same as the one of a bank or even better and open longer than a bank.

So, what you have to do is to exchange at first and purchase the ticket you would need with that cash.

If you have any unneeded tickets or coupons which are still valid, these shops could purchase them from you. Their buying price would be usually between 90 – 98 % of the actual price depending on a kind of ticket/coupon you have. However, you have to have your own ID and may have to fill the form regarding your name and where you live.

As I mentioned, you could get many different types of tickets at these shops. Furthermore, you could even get a postal stamp, a department gift coupon, a travel gift coupon and so on at lower prices, such as 93 – 98 % of the actual prices. These shops are basically open from 9;00 or 10;00 until 18;00 or 19;00, however, some of them have vending machines at where you could get a certain ticket such as for a bus and a local train for 24 hours. You could get the receipt if needed at this vending machine!

Why do you have to spend more money? I hope that you could visit these shops and find the right tickets/coupons you would need. Toast to a clever buyer!!

 

 

By Kenny Y./Japan