Snow Prince advanced ticket & how to go to the movies in Japan

I went and got my advanced ticket for Snow Prince today and took a quick picture of it, the special bonus you get for buying in advance and two flyers for the movie. The bonus is a set of colored pencils with special packaging. For the flyers, the plain looking one I actually picked up back in the spring, as I had seen it when I picked up a flyer for the Gokusen movie, and the one with Morimoto Shintarou on it is the new flyer for the movie. The new flyer of course has more information about the movie and does list Snow Prince by Snow Prince Gasshoudan as the theme song for the movie.


And I figured with Johnny's from time to time being in movies then perhaps it would be nice to give some information about seeing movies in Japan, as I know I had to find out quite a bit by myself when I got here.

First off as a warning for those spoiled by cheap movie prices and matinees Americans, it's expensive to go to the movies in Japan. The usual price for an adult ticket is 1800 yen, and there are no matinee shows at all. There are discounts though, but there are two, only one though for guys, that a visitor to Japan can easily use. The one anyone can use regardless of gender is the discount on the first of every month, where tickets are only 1000 yen each. This also tends to be the most popular day to go to the movies for everyone so don't be surprised to find the cinema crowded. The other is only for women, and this is Ladies' Day, which is every Wednesday, and all women can get tickets for 1000 yen. I've been using Ladies' Day a lot for seeing movies here in Japan personally.

Another option if you're looking for cheap tickets, or at least cheaper than the full price, are the resale ticket stores that are all around the place. I don't have a list of where they all are but if you look around, especially in Tokyo, you can find them. I believe the easiest one to find that I've seen is the one in Ikebukuro on the street that Sunshine City is on. These resale ticket places can sell tickets for all kinds of things, and some do sell concert tickets, but you can get movie tickets from them. Though most tend to be advanced tickets so you need to be careful when you buy the tickets as you can only use them in select movie theaters. And I'll get into that next.

If you're looking to get advanced tickets for any movie you can get it either from a movie theater or you can use the ticketing machines that the convenience stores have. Though if you want the special looking tickets and bonus gifts for buying an advanced ticket you will need to find a movie theater that is taking advanced sales for the movie you want to see. Though one thing to keep in mind about advanced tickets from movie theaters is that you can't use them at any theater you want. They will have the name of the theater(s) that you can use them at somewhere on them. The ones you get from the convenience stores though are good at any theater though. Both cost 1300 yen and they tend to work more like a voucher than an actual ticket.

Using Snow Prince as an example, the movie theater closest to me isn't taking advanced sales for this movie so I chose to buy my ticket from a cinema in Shibuya. I am now limited to seeing the movie in the theaters listed on the back of the ticket, but I plan on seeing it at the theater I bought it from anyway so it's not an issue for me. Also the day, exact showing and seat will only be selected when I go in to actually see the movie. So if it so happens that I want to see the movie on a certain day and for a certain showtime but it's full by the time I get there I'm either going to have to wait for another showtime or day.

Also to make sure it's clear the advanced ticket will not let you in to see the movie itself. You need to go to the ticket counter in the cinema itself and get a ticket from them to go in to the screening room. They'll tear off the bottom part of the advanced ticket and you'll get to keep the 'pretty' part of it. All the advanced ticket does is let you pay in advance, so you don't need to pay the ticket counter anything when you get the actual movie ticket. That and you can usually get a little gift and a nice little pretty piece of paper for paying in advance.

And since it is something that will probably need addressing, they do seating in Japan differently than in the States, I'm not sure about if other countries do this as well or not. But in Japan when you chose your showtime you also get to choose which seat you will sit in to watch it in. So like concerts with seating in Japan, you will get assigned seating for movies and the seat row and number will be printed on the actual ticket you use to get in. This will happen when you get the actual ticket and the person at the counter will pull out a seating chart and ask where you want to be seated, so unlike concerts you will actually get a choice.

For those who don't speak Japanese, or at least not well, just point to an area of seats you want to sit in and say 'koko' and you'll get your point across just fine. They will tell which seat they will give you, rows are letters from the English alphabet and then a number (which will be said in Japanese). If you're fine with the seat then just nod your head or say 'hai', 'ii desu', or any other confirmation word(s) in Japanese and they will then print out your ticket. This is the ticket that you hand to the attendent near the screening rooms to be let in to actually see the movie.

Japanese cinemas have merchandise areas in them. Every movie will have a special pamphlet that you can buy. They're usually really nice and not that expensive considering their quality. And there will probably be other items for whatever movie you are seeing for sale as well. The official websites for the movie should have a list somewhere of everything that will be available. Though things tend to sell out quickly, as they need to make room for the next batch of goods for the next movie(s) coming out every week.

There should be an area to buy food and drinks as well. They have a rather massive selection from what I've seen of your usual popcorn to flavored french fries as well as light meals. But like most places that sell food in Japan they should have a menu, sometimes with pictures, by the register so you can just point to what you want. And if you're over 20 years old you can even order beer if you'd like. If you order more than just a drink they'll usually give you a tray that will connect to the seat where the cup holder is.

In the screening room you need to find your seat, which shouldn't be that hard. And then it's more or less the same as movie theaters in the U.S. The only other major difference that you will notice is that before the previews start rolling an employee from the cinema will come in and stand in front of the screen, tell you which movie you are seeing and the basic rules of the cinema. Though I honestly can't remember if every movie I've seen has had this, but most have.

And also to note as it confused me a bit at first, but 'roadshow' is 'opening day'. Again using Snow Prince as an example, it says its roadshow begins December 12th. What that actually means is that the opening day for the movie will be December 12th. This of course doesn't include any special previews or advanced screenings of the film that may happen before this date.

And that's about all I can think of mentioning for this topic. I'm not sure how useful people will find it, but I hope anyone who wishes to catch a movie while visiting Japan will find it helpful.