Question 6.
How do I find the damn venue without getting totally lost?

Good question! Japanese concert venues can be really hard to find! Japanese cities like Tokyo and Osaka are difficult to navigate at the best of times—these are old cities that grew up piecemeal, without the aid of urban planning innovations like a grid-shaped street pattern. Kyoto, Sapporo, and Hiroshima have grid-shaped street patterns, but even so, finding your way can be tough. If you’re in Japan in an unfamiliar city, always, always, always carry a map, or an iPeen with GoogleMaps, and consult it frequently. If you don’t do this, I guarantee you, you will get lost. Even if you do do this, I’d still say you have a pretty good chance of getting lost. Even if you speak Japanese, you’ll probably get lost. Even if you have a good sense of direction, it doesn’t matter, you’ll still get lost! If this is your first time in Japan, prepare yourself mentally—you’re going to get oh so very lost. Therefore, the map is your friend. Worship the map. (And if you need more information on trains, check out the section Train Travel in Japan.)

However, a regular old map might not be enough to suit your purposes if you are going to a rock show. Small rock venues tend to be located in the basements of buildings because the sound doesn’t carry as far, and signs for venues like this will often be small and might not be easily visible. Furthermore, as anyone who has been to Japan knows, city streets can be very narrow and convoluted. Some alleyways might be so small they might not even show up on a map…and yet the concert venue you are looking for might be down one of them. What’s a bamboozled fan to do?

First of all, go to the venue website. All venues have websites, and all venue websites will have an access map. Poke around the site till you find the access map, it will usually be listed under “access” or “info.” The access map may look like a simple grid listing the nearest train station with a star marking the position of the venue. Don’t be fooled! Venues always simplify their maps. If you try to use one of these simplified maps for navigation, you will end up woefully lost. Instead, you will need to pay attention to the other landmarks on the map. Most maps will list landmarks, like convenience stores, banks or fast food restaurants. Print out the map and bring it with you when you try to find your way to the venue, then navigate landmark by landmark, consulting the map frequently, and you should be okay. Of course, in this age of amazing technology, an even better solution is to make a virtual trip to the venue from the comfort of your home using Google Street View. If you do this, you’ll get a good idea of what the area near the venue looks like, and be able to confirm where the landmarks are even if Street View doesn’t show you the entrance to the venue itself. Printing a map from Google Maps is also a good solution, especially if you take a marker and mark the route to the venue from the train station on the printout beforehand. All of this might not be necessary for a big venue—most big venues are easy to find and located near train stations. But for small or even mid-sized venues, never underestimate just how lost you can get if you don’t prepare yourself.

Also, if you’re not used to navigating in Japan but you have a lot of time on your hands, try to get to the venue a few hours early. If you cut things close, you’ll be very sorry if you get lost and get to the concert late. Alternatively, if doing the Google Maps virtual tour thing doesn’t help you, or if you don’t have access to a computer, try doing a “dry run” sometime before the concert… go find the venue and then find your way back to the train station. Since most rock venues tend to be in happening neighborhoods, in doing a “dry run,” you might see some other interesting things on your way there and back, as well.

A warning for those of you planning on using GPS maps on your smart phone - Japan has notoriously few wireless hotspots. Unless you rent a wireless dongle in advance, assume you won't be able to access the internet while you're out and about, so if you want to use your smart phone as a map, make sure you have a map app that works offline. However, renting a wireless dongle is not very expensive and it can be a lifesaver. We recommend this service. We have used it ourselves and it's very professional, cheap and easy to use.

But if you find yourself running out of time and you don’t know where the venue is, look at the people around you. Do any of them look like they might be going to the show you’re going to? Are they wearing tour t-shirts or other distinctive clothing or makeup? Do they seem to be heading in the general direction of the venue? If they are, follow them—you don’t have much to lose, and if the concert is big enough and starting soon, chances are they’re going where you’re going.

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