Dear Friends,

If any of you have attended a baseball game in Tokyo, how far in advance did you buy tickets? No laughing please, but is it possible to purchase them the day of the game?

Thanks.

Try: ticketsinjapan.com

I am not sure about game day purchases. We purchased ahead of time and the tickets were waiting for us at out hotel the day of arrival.

It was a fun experience for sure as we saw the Yomiuri Giants playing the Yakult Swallows at venerable Jungu Stadium. It was pretty cool becasue it was like in intercity rivalry like Cubs vs. White Sox or Mets and Yankees.

Do go. You will love it!

Thanks for your response, Jacketwatch. We're going to give it a go! Do you (or anyone else) happen to know if Tokyo Dome has elevators that serve the 2, 3, 4 tiers?

I really don’t know. We only went to Jingu stadium.

maybe you could look for a Tokyo Dome website and see if they do?

Good luck and I’m sure you will enjoy this experience

I looked at this through a Google search, and they indeed do have elevators to the top tiers.

Get seats in right field to sit with the home team fanatics.

How kind of you to do a search for elevators, jacketwatch. We found tickets for a Yomiuri Giants game in September. (Went through a 3rd party vendor which is another story... Just hoping that tickets show up when they're supposed to.) Anyway, it's reassuring to know that there will be elevators.

And, mrwunrfl, as much as we wanted to sit with the frenzied home team fans, we could only find seats near third base. We haven't been to a game in a while though, so this is really going to be something special!

>> 3rd party vendor which is another story...

I saw tix available at the Giants website. You could get bar codes or pick up the tix at 7-11.
The outfield seats were all solo seats at the YG site but stubhub and a couple of pairs of outfield seats for sale.
I was looking at the series with the Carp Sept. 9-11.

Actually, when we went to the game at Jingu Stadium, it seemed that fans were more or less evenly divided with fans for the Swallows on one side and fans for the Giants on the other. They also had small umbrellas with their respective teams colors. Every time something positive happened like a hit or a run they would raise their umbrellas up and down. However, your situation is different. I think because mine was like an intercity series so you would think each team would have a fair representation of their own fans.

in any case, the atmosphere at a Japanese baseball game is something to experience. I hope someday we can get back and try it again.

I am sure you will really like it.

We opted for tickets through StubHub, and now I'm questioning the decision. We completed our part of the transaction, but SH didn't send tickets, vouchers, a barcode in return. They sent an email order confirmation advising us that the tickets would "arrive" by 9/4. This morning, when I checked, the date had been changed to 9/9 at 3 pm which is game day, three hours before it starts.
We've never used this service before, and I made the mistake of not checking it out beforehand. Now I read online reviews that are mostly scathing. Accounts of tickets not showing up, or tickets being sold to multiple buyers.
Things might turn out okay, I just don't know. Apparently there's no option to cancel the purchase.

If you've used StubHub, please tell me about your experience.

How did this turn out?

Wow, mrwunrful, your timing's impeccable!

The baseball tickets arrived as promised from StubHub. It was a bit nerve wracking waiting until the eleventh hour, and we had to ask the hotel concierge to print them -but it all worked out.
The game at Tokyo Dome was terrific - so high energy and the Tokyo Giants won! The tenor of the game was very competitive, but there was a gentlemanly aspect to it that we don't often see.
We're glad we took a chance on the tickets, but StubHub would benefit by disclosing aspects of their sales better.
Anyway, thank you for asking.

Wonderful! I think I read that their reselling business is illegal. At least, selling above face value is illegal.

I am very glad to hear it worked out for you. Going to a Japanese professional baseball game is quite an experience and I am glad you got to see one.

Thanks, jacketwatch! The experience definitely went beyond our expectations. We so appreciate your input.

Thank you!
For any baseball fans seeing a Japanese pro baseball game if given the chance is well worth it.

We cruised out of Yokohama after spending a few days in Tokyo before our cruise and the feed for the ships TV showed several Japanese pro games too. Enjoyed all of them.

You can usually grab tickets same day, especially if it’s not a weekend or a big matchup. I bought mine at the stadium box office an hour before the game and had no problem.

Thanks, Jameswilliam 787. Good to know for next time, should we be so lucky!

By the way, the hawker's - whoops, I mean handler's fee through StubHub was quite substantial, so I imagine that tickets at the door might be more down to earth.

We managed to get tickets at the Tokyo Dome for Yumioury Giants against Hansin Tigers. Great experience, it's like watching a Baseball game with Football (European) atmosphere.

I would add that for us. It was like seeing a baseball game with a US college football atmosphere.

We had a lot of fun.