BuySumoTickets.com

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a question that isn't on this list, please use the Contact Us form, and ask away!
1.  Can I take photos?  What about flash?

You can do whatever you want with your camera, as long as you're doing it from your seat.  If you try to get into the aisles or stomp on people to get photos, the ushers will ask you to sit down, or maybe even ask you to leave if you continue to misbehave.  Also, this assumes your camera is a regular consumer camera.  If you have professional video equipment, that could be a problem.

2. What is the difference between a 'Box' and an 'Arena' seat, and what is the meaning of 'A', 'B', and 'C'?

Boxes are a Japanese-style seating arrangement.  Depending on which city you're in, there are boxes for 1, 2, 3 or 4 people.  You basically get an area of the floor and a cushion to sit on (it is elevated, so visibility isn't a problem).  This is the most 'exotic', but also the most expensive, way to see sumo. Box 'A' are the closest to the ring, then 'B', then 'C'.  The 2-person Box 'C' in Tokyo, Pair Boxes in Osaka and Box 'C' in Nagoya are full-sized Boxes for 4 people, but are sold for only 2 people, so you get extra space.  Click here for a photo of a Box in the Tokyo arena.

Arena seats are chairs like Western people would be used to from an arena in their country. In Tokyo, the seats are cushioned, more like what you'd expect in a movie theatre.  Arena 'A' are the closest to the ring, then 'B', then 'C'.  Also, Arena 'A' have more cushioning than 'B', which in turn have more than 'C'.

3. Can I buy just part of a Box?

No.  If you want to sit in a Box, you have to buy the whole thing.  However, there's no rule saying that 1 person can't buy an entire 4-person Box, if you want to stretch your legs.

4. Why don't you sell the Ringside tickets?

Because those things are hard to get.  We've never even been able to get them for ourselves!  They're only available to people and groups that donate large amounts of money to the Sumo Association, and if you believe recent news reports, members of the yakuza (Japanese mob) are also able to get them.  We are not members of the yakuza, unfortunately.

5. Why don't you sell the General Admission tickets?

They are made available in limited numbers, only on the day of the event.  It is therefore not possible to buy them in advance and send them to you.  We highly recommend that you do not gamble that you can get one of these tickets.  Also, do you really want to spend precious time on your vacation lining up at 7:00AM to get cheap tickets in the back row of the arena?  We wouldn't.

6. What will you do if I order tickets from you and they're sold-out?

We'll try the following, in order:

i) Buy tickets for the same day at a lower price range that is available.  If this succeeds, we'll refund the excess money in full.

ii) Buy tickets at your requested price range, on your first choice of alternate dates.  If those are also sold-out, we'll try to lower the price range again.  If it's still sold-out, we'll try your next alternate day.

iii) If none of the above succeeds, or you don't wish to select any alternate dates, then we'll give you a complete refund.

*If you want us to try these steps in a different order, for example, to try the alternate dates before trying to lower the price range, please let us know at the time of ordering!

7. What is the day's schedule, and what time should I arrive at the arena?

*The following information is only for the six 15-day major tournaments in the year.  One-day special events will have different schedules.

What time you go is up to you.  The doors usually open at around 8:00AM.  The new and low-ranked wrestlers fight early in the day, so show up early if you want to see some skinny teenagers go at it before they become behemoths in a few years.  Matches start at around 8:30, except for the last 3 days, when they start at around 10:00.

The second-highest division typically starts at around 3:00, with the highest division starting at about 4:00.  Be there before 4:00 if you want to see the ring entrance ceremonies by the top-level wrestlers, and the special Yokozuna Grand-Champion entrances!  The matches end by 6:00.

On the final day of the tournament, the start times for the second-highest and highest divisions are about 30 minutes earlier, to make time for trophy presentations at the end of the day.

8. How do I get to the arena?

In Tokyo, take the Sobu line (also called the Chuo line) to Ryogoku Station.  It's 2 stops, about 5 minutes, east of Akihabara Station.  Then follow the signs and crowds. If you want more help with the train, including directions from any station, we highly recommend this useful website.  Enter Ryogoku as your destination station.  You can also check this link, which is the Sumo Association's information on the arena.

For Osaka, check this link from the Sumo Association.  If you want more help with the train, including directions from any station, we highly recommend this useful website.

For Nagoya, check this link from the Sumo Association.  If you want more help with the train, including directions from any station, we highly recommend this useful website.

For Kyushu, check this link from the Sumo Association.  If you want more help with the train, including directions from any station, we highly recommend this useful website.

9. Will I be able to see from the back section?

Yes.  The sumo arenas are not as big as many basketball or hockey arenas in Western countries.  Even the back row has adequate visibility, although you'll definitely want to wear your glasses/contacts!

10. What is your return policy?

Unfortunately, we cannot accept returns.  This is because we don't carry a stock of tickets, instead we buy all tickets upon customer request.  Once we buy the tickets for you, we can't return them to the box office, therefore you can't return them to us.  Please be sure before you buy.  In some cases we have helped customers to re-sell their tickets to another customer if they can't use them, but we can't guarantee this will be possible.

11. Do I need a Paypal account to pay you?

No.  You only need a Paypal account if you want to pay from your bank account.  If you'd like to pay by credit card, Paypal allows you to do that without making an account with them!  If you're in Japan, we also accept bank transfer (furikomi).

12. I know nothing about sumo. Can you recommend some resources to learn the basics?

Yes, try these links:

Beginner's Guide of Sumo (from the Sumo Association)

Sumo (from Wikipedia)

Sumo FAQ

13. What is your privacy policy for handling my personal information?

We will never share your email address or other personal information.  We won't share it with business partners, friends, spammers, or anybody else.  It's as simple as that.  As for your credit card information, we'll never even see it because we process all payments through Paypal.

14. How do I track my shipment?

We'll send you a tracking number by email.  Click here for the Japan Post tracking website.  For international shipments, click 'Item No search' next to 'International Mail'.  For shipments within Japan, click the top 'Item No search' next to 'Mail'.  Then enter the tracking number.

15. Can you send my tickets to my hotel in Japan?

Yes, of course!  We'll need 4 things from you:

1.  The hotel name
2.  The hotel address
3.  Your arrival date
4.  The name the reservation was made in

This should help to ensure that the hotel holds the mail.  Please note that some hotels have told us they don't hold mail for customers who don't have a reservation.  So we highly recommend reserving before you tell us to send your tickets to the hotel!

Our standard procedure is to hold the tickets at our office, then send them a few days before you arrive at your hotel.  This makes sure that the hotel doesn't have to hold them for very long.

16. What if I pre-order tickets, then change my plans or want to cancel completely?

We're not in this business to make enemies, so if you pre-order from us, you are free to change your plans or ask for a refund, as long as you notify us at least 2 hours before tickets go on sale (please try to notify us at least 48 hours before the on-sale date).  If tickets are on sale, chances are we've already bought yours, so it's too late for any changes.

17. Does a pre-order guarantee tickets?  Why should I pre-order?

A pre-order does not guarantee tickets, but it comes pretty close.  When you pre-order, it means that we will attempt to buy your tickets as soon as they go on sale.  We can only buy them when they become available to the general public nationwide, so there are no guarantees.  Practically speaking however, even on high-demand days, tickets rarely sell so quickly that there is a danger of your preferred day being sold-out, if you pre-order.

Another benefit of a pre-order is that you will probably get a good seat, even on high-demand days.  Pre-orders for arena seats often result in tickets in the first row of that section.  Boxes are a different story, as they sell at a higher speed.  If you want a box on a high-demand day, it can be difficult, but a pre-order could make the difference between getting one, or having to downgrade to Arena seats.

The highest-demand day is typically the final day of the tournament.  If you want a ticket on this day, we strongly recommend that you pre-order!  Otherwise, you may get shut-out completely.

18. I just received my ticket and it's all in Japanese!  How do I read this thing?

Let's go through it together, starting with the top line, which we'll call 'Line 1'.

Line 1: This is the tournament year and month.  The first number is the year, in the Japanese system of numbering the years based on how many years the current emperor has been in power.  The year '23' corresponds to 2011.  The year '24' is '2012', and so on.  The next number is the month, with 1 being January, 3 being March, and so on, just like in the Western calendar.

Line 2: The first number is the month.  The second number is the date.  Farther to the right, the number in brackets is the day number of the tournament.  The second day is 2, and so on.  The first and final days have their own special symbols, and do not use numbers to indicate the day.

Line 3 and 4 (small print): These lines are the name of the building where the event takes place, and the time that the gates open.

Line 5: The letter is the ticket class, A, B, C, etc.

Line 6: The first character represents the side of the arena that you are on.  In Tokyo, you'll find that these match the big signs displayed in the rafters of the arena on each of the 4 sides.  The number is your row number.

Line 7: The last line is the seat number.

If you can't figure out where to go once you're at the arena, don't worry.  There are ushers who will show you to your seat, some of whom speak English.  They are usually quick to pounce on the lost-looking foreigners.

19. Can I leave and re-enter the arena during the day?

Yes.  The official policy is that you can re-enter once.

20. Can I choose my seating location within a ticket type?

For Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka, the answer is no.  The Sumo Association does not allow customers to choose their seating location, other than to specify which type (Box 'A', Arena 'B', etc.) they'd like.  We've tried requesting specific locations before, but the request was denied.

For Nagoya, we can often choose the location, but this might take a couple of weeks longer and add an extra 1,000 yen charge.  It depends on which tickets you want and for which day.  Ask us for more information.

21. Can I bring children?  Is there a discount?

Yes, children can watch sumo.  For the 6 major tournaments, children 3 years old or younger can enter for free if they sit in an adult's lap.  There is no discount for children 4 years old or older.  Some of the special events have different policies for children's prices, so please ask about these.

22.  Can you get tickets for other events in Japan besides sumo?

Yes, we can buy tickets for some other events in Japan, depending on how the tickets are sold.  Please note that we are not experts in other events, so we cannot give the same level of advice as we do for sumo tickets.  Ask us if you'd like help buying non-sumo tickets.