Top business media organisation Forbes has recently highlighted the difficulties faced by overseas fans in accessing Japanese pop culture contents. In brief, the article has summarized them as listed below.

1) No Japanese phone number, no lottery chance.

Demand for tickets to highly sought-after events like concerts and musicals greatly outstrip supply, so Japanese ticketing platforms have resorted to lotteries to give all fans a fighting chance. Lotteries usually require a Japanese mobile phone number — as opposed to a more international email address, and therefore limit access to the lotteries for overseas fans.

2) Lack of acceptance of international payment methods.

Japanese ticketing platforms only accept Japanese credit cards, or Japanese payment methods such as “furikomi” (post office cheque) and convenience store payments, further limiting access to ticket sales for fans living overseas.

3) ID check at entry means Japanese friends can’t proxy buy your tickets for you.

If you do manage to have a local friend willing to help you purchase tickets, they are hampered by anti-scalping rules that require a local ID check, preventing them from acting as proxy buyers on your behalf.

Overall, the lack of support by the Japanese entertainment industry for overseas fans has been disheartening, and is making it even more possible for other contries with strong contents like South Korea and China to access these fans — and their money, instead.