Over the years, this site has chronicled the issue of ticket scalping in Japan. Things really came to a head in 2016. In March of that year, Arashi announced that they would install facial-scanning technology at the concerts to thwart scalping, something that Momoiro Clover Z, B’z, and Mr.Children did in 2014.
In August of that year, the group “Tenbai No” (translation: “Resale No”) was formed. The group took out full page ads in two of Japan’s biggest newspapers, Asahi and Yomiuri. The ads read, “We are against the high-priced reselling of tickets, which is depriving music of its future.” The ad then listed the 116 music acts, 24 events, and four music organizations that agreed with Tenbai No.
m-flo was one of 116 music acts who supported Tenbai No. I immediately reached out to group member ☆Taku Takahashi for a statement on why he agreed with Tenbai No, especially since he advocates for Japanese music spreading internationally, and many felt that this group hurt the chances of international fans attending concerts while in Japan. He said that it is hard for even Japanese people in Japan to get tickets to certain concerts. However, he added, there are certain acts who do sell tickets internationally, with, bringing things back to the present, Fujii Kaze doing so this year.
Going back to Arashi, in September of that year, a woman was arrested for scalping the group’s tickets and making ¥10 million in profit in the process. Police said investigations showed that the woman purchased tickets on a website and resold more than 300 of them over the past year and a half.
That brings us to today.
