Does anyone have the detailed seat map of the Ryogoku Kokugikan that includes the new S categories?

[Edwardoho 23]

Does anyone have the detailed seat map of the Ryogoku Kokugikan (similar to the below) but that includes the new S categories of arena and box seats? 

I'm curious how many rows of Arena S there will be in front of Arena A which previously was the rows nearest to the front. 

[Morning 75]

Row 1-4 are the S for box. 1-3 for chairs.

https://www.sumo.or.jp/Admission/ticket/Jan/price/615/

Edited December 5, 2022 by Morning

[Edwardoho 23]

Thank you!

For anyone else interested, 

Masu S - row 1-4 of boxes
Masu A - row 5-8 of boxes
Masu B - row 9-12
Masu C - row 13-15

 

 

[since_94 650]

Does anyone anticipate hassles picking up sumo tickets (ordered online through the JSA website) at 7-11s? It’s always been a simple matter of printing them out from the ticket issuing machine at the Kokugikan box office, but now it seems for January it will be necessary to get them at a convenience store. As a non Japanese speaker and without any form of Japanese I.D. , I just worry a bit since this is a new system. I can use phone translation to communicate what I want to do with clerk, assuming there is no problem. Will it be sufficient to bring the credit card used to purchase, printouts of order numbers and receipts, and a passport? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[sumojoann 1,263]

5 hours ago, since_94 said:

Does anyone anticipate hassles picking up sumo tickets (ordered online through the JSA website) at 7-11s? It’s always been a simple matter of printing them out from the ticket issuing machine at the Kokugikan box office, but now it seems for January it will be necessary to get them at a convenience store. As a non Japanese speaker and without any form of Japanese I.D. , I just worry a bit since this is a new system. I can use phone translation to communicate what I want to do with clerk, assuming there is no problem. Will it be sufficient to bring the credit card used to purchase, printouts of order numbers and receipts, and a passport? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Have you already placed your order?  If not, I recommend you purchase your tickets through buysumotickets.com.  So quick and easy.  Even my Japanese friend in Japan gets his ticket this way.

[sumojoann 1,263]

7 hours ago, since_94 said:

Does anyone anticipate hassles picking up sumo tickets (ordered online through the JSA website) at 7-11s? It’s always been a simple matter of printing them out from the ticket issuing machine at the Kokugikan box office, but now it seems for January it will be necessary to get them at a convenience store. As a non Japanese speaker and without any form of Japanese I.D. , I just worry a bit since this is a new system. I can use phone translation to communicate what I want to do with clerk, assuming there is no problem. Will it be sufficient to bring the credit card used to purchase, printouts of order numbers and receipts, and a passport? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Below is a post written by @Akinomaki, who was answering a question in another thread from someone who wanted information on the best way to buy sumo tickets.  NOTE: ----- He indicates that the ticket terminals at the 7/11s can be switched to English.  Assuming there haven't been any changes, that should solve your language issue at the 7/11. 

However, I can't determine from your post, @since_94, if you have already ordered your tickets.  Akinomaki indicates that if you order from the official site, you would have to register and buy from the Japanese pages.  So if you haven't ordered your tickets yet, I would recommend you order from buysumotickets.com.
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(Posted November 9 by  @Akinomaki)

"Not quite as easy, but you can nowadays always get tickets directly from the official site, till a day before you plan to go to visit the basho. Unfortunately they more or less scrapped the English side and you have to register and buy from the Japanese pages, when sales have started.

Since there is hardly ever a sellout now, you can still buy tickets when you are in Japan, at the 7/11 convenience stores where you have to collect your tickets also when you order via the site. The ticket terminals there can be switched to English.

There was a TicketsToday service for foreigners, but I can't access the site now and don't know if it still works."
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[Edwardoho 23]

There are some special 2 person B-box seats for the upcoming Toyko basho. They are described as "4-guests box seats open for use by only 2 guests". 

Is this simply a promotion to try and sell more seats? Does anyone know if it's specific B level box seats that are allocated for this type of ticket sale? Inferior ones in awkward positions perhaps? 

Thanks!

 

[Akinomaki 40,129]

1 hour ago, Edwardoho said:

There are some special 2 person B-box seats for the upcoming Toyko basho. They are described as "4-guests box seats open for use by only 2 guests". 

Is this simply a promotion to try and sell more seats? Does anyone know if it's specific B level box seats that are allocated for this type of ticket sale? Inferior ones in awkward positions perhaps?

There always (recently) were these four for two masu seats, in the last row of the C masu, I used them twice. Lately also B masu are available, of course only the worst locations are sold like that.

[since_94 650]

I ended up ordering tickets through the PIA purchase site (sell.pia.jp), which is how I’ve always done it before. The cheapest seats are the topmost row, which they are now calling Chair Seats D. Those used to be the same-day tickets one could line up for and purchase at the box office. They’re now 2500 yen, vice 2200 yen. I understand they are not being sold at 7/11, either. Does anyone know if the 1000 yen convenience charge the PIA site applies is likewise applied to other classes of tickets sold at 7/11? Just curious.

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,261]

5 hours ago, Edwardoho said:

There are some special 2 person B-box seats for the upcoming Toyko basho. They are described as "4-guests box seats open for use by only 2 guests". 

Is this simply a promotion to try and sell more seats? Does anyone know if it's specific B level box seats that are allocated for this type of ticket sale? Inferior ones in awkward positions perhaps? 

Thanks!

 

There's also 2 person B masu where the diagonal stairs slice through all the boxes at weird angles. Sometimes you get a lot of leg room with those and sometimes you don't.

I haven't bought after they started the 4 person for 2 thing, so I'm not sure how you tell those apart.

[BuySumoTickets 27]

18 hours ago, Edwardoho said:

There are some special 2 person B-box seats for the upcoming Toyko basho. They are described as "4-guests box seats open for use by only 2 guests". 

Is this simply a promotion to try and sell more seats? Does anyone know if it's specific B level box seats that are allocated for this type of ticket sale? Inferior ones in awkward positions perhaps? 

Thanks!

 

Our understanding is as follows:

The 2-person Boxes are full-sized 4-person Boxes (and a few 3-person Boxes), sold for 2 people. This is part of the ongoing Covid protocols to reduce capacity in the venue, but also merges with a need to increase ticket sales. It's hard to tell one reason from the other right now. They have sold very well. 4-person Box 'B' are the entire front and back sides, 2-person Box 'B' are the entire east and west sides, which is the catch. 2-person Box 'C' are the normal 4-person Box 'C' being sold for 2 people and are on all 4 sides. Last Tokyo basho the 2-person Box 'B' were on all 4 sides, this time 2. We expect the 2-person Box 'B' to disappear entirely by the May tournament, as sales increase and Covid capacity-reduction protocols dwindle. Perhaps only 2-person Box 'C' on east and west sides next time.

The "normal" 2-person Boxes with the awkward shapes are being sold as 1-person Boxes this time.

The Arena 'D' are new this tournament, replacing the old General Admission tickets (which we think have not been sold since Covid began), and are marked as "only for this tournament". We expect them to disappear soon too, unless the Sumo Association has no intention of ever selling those on the day of the event again, which might be what they're thinking. The "only for this tournament" marking doesn't mean much, considering that from at least 2006 up until about 2017 or so, they used to have the Special 2-person Box 'C' marked as "only for this tournament".

Edited December 13, 2022 by BuySumoTickets
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[Edwardoho 23]

On 06/12/2022 at 09:38, since_94 said:

Picked up my tickets yesterday at 7-11.

Simply showed my email on my phone and signed a piece of paper. Didn’t need to show credit card or ID. 
 
there is some Japanese on the email for them to read. 

Very easy 
 

[since_94 650]

On 04/01/2023 at 06:47, Edwardoho said:

Picked up my tickets yesterday at 7-11.

Simply showed my email on my phone and signed a piece of paper. Didn’t need to show credit card or ID. 
 
there is some Japanese on the email for them to read. 

Very easy 
 

Cool! Thanks for the update. I’ll be in Tokyo tomorrow and picking my own up