You have checked the official NJPW website and possibly a couple of other guides, but still don’t know exactly how to purchase tickets from outside Japan? Here is how to do get those tickets for Wrestle Kingdom, G1 Climax, New Japan Cup or any other New Japan Pro Wrestling event!
Where to purchase NJPW tickets online from abroad?
Option 1: Official International Tickets
For Wrestle Kingdom (and very few other events), NJPW offers international buying options for overseas fans through their official English site. However, this option is usually only available after pre-sale has finished, so the best seats are usually sold out already. There are various pre-sale phases including fan club sale but also public ones, which can start more than a month before regular open sale.
Option 2: Proxy Services
For matches which don’t have the option to purchase international NJPW tickets, or if you want to purchase tickets earlier, you need the help of a 3rd party service that buy the tickets for people overseas upon order. Some ticket proxy services which are confirmed to handle Pro-Wrestling tickets are Tickets Galore Japan and BuySumoTickets.
If a show or a specific ticket category is sold out, some of these services can also get you tickets from the resale market.
Option 3: International Resellers
For some NJPW events, tickets can also be found on the Viagogo marketplace. Beware though that some resellers there seem to send out the tickets very shortly before the event, so you might need to set your shipping address to your hotel to Japan.
If you’ve tried all of the above already
If you don’t mind bad seats, standing or potentially not getting into the venue at all, it’s also possible to purchase the tickets once you are in Japan, or even at the venue on the day of. However, event-day tickets might not be for very good seating categories.
For more details, see the next section. In case of doubt, it’s usually better to secure tickets online before anything else, though.
Buying NJPW Tickets in Japan
Once you are in Japan, you can try purchasing tickets in one of the many convenience stores which have ticket machines that are connected to the major ticket agencies (eplus at Family Mart, Ticket Pia at Seven Eleven or Lawson Tickets at Lawson/Ministop stores).
Event-day tickets are available if the show is not sold out at that point. At Tokyo Dome, the ticket office is in front of Gate 22.
If the event is at Korakuen in Tokyo, there usually are also standing tickets (only available on the day of the event), for around 3,500-4,000 Yen.
The ticket office is inside the building, on the 5th floor. The ticket office is to the right of the elevator and stairway. People will line up there, so I recommend going there with a large enough time buffer before the show starts.
Resale tickets (even good categories) might also be available at some of the discount ticket shops (Kinken shops) in Tokyo. Prices are usually higher than face value unless it’s a very unpopular match, or it’s about to start within hours.
For more info on this route, see our related article: The 3 Best Kinken Shops for Event Tickets in Tokyo
Ticket Board: Doesn’t Work Anymore!
Up until 2017 it was possible to purchase smartphone tickets for some New Japan Pro-Wrestling events through the official ticket agency Ticket Board (aka Ticketbo.jp). However, they stopped handling New Japan Pro Wrestling tickets which is unfortunate, because this was probably the easiest option for buying tickets from overseas.
How about NJPW events outside Japan?
If this all is too complicated for you, and Japan is too far anyway, there’s still a chance to watch NJPW events live. Recently, the organization holds matches in the US!
In April 6th, 2019 for example, there is the G1 Supercard event in New York. Tickets for the fights are sold out, but last time I checked, Stubhub and Viagogo still had some resale tickets.
Where to Find Pro-Wrestling Events in Japan (incl. NJPW)
If you are going all the way to Japan for an event, you might as well add some fun to your trip and go watch BJW, NOAH, AJPW, TJPW, Stardom or DDT, right? The Puwota Schedule has a pretty good calendar showing when and where the action is taking place. And it is available in English. The above-mentioned proxy services can also help with tickets for other promotions.
