Johnny's Fan Appreciation Day

Well Johnny's has announced to the fan club members of their various fan clubs that they will be having a Fan Appreciation Day on December 13th. They will be holding a baseball game, with the Johnny's boys being the players of this game, at the Tokyo Dome and are of course letting all fan club members apply to watch the game. They haven't announced any of the participants yet and balloting ends on Monday November 16th.

They're being pretty strict with the application process as well. As a fan club member can bring only one other person with them, but only if they are a member of a fan club as well or if a Hey! Say! JUMP underage fan club member needs a guardian to come with them. If they are taking some one the information for that person must be submitted in the ballot. Also they cannot then turn around and have that other fan club member submit an application with them bringing them as their guest.

So there's little doubt that they are trying to make sure those applying will be the ones attending and not have tickets sold off to be resold for a profit. I would also think this is why they are asking not to let any of the press find out about it yet so it's kept a bit on the down low to try to avoid people finding ways around the restrictions. Though somehow I have the feeling that if they're being so strict with application they may actually make sure to check for proof of membership or the like at the venue when seating for the event.

Honestly I'm glad they're being this strict. Yes it does seem rather unfair for non-fan club members, but considering that this is for all the fans of any of the groups, with some fan clubs having more than 500,000 members while the Tokyo Dome sits 70,000 max, I'm pretty sure that they will easily fill all those seats with the fan club members themselves. Also there are always people that just use their membership to get tickets to turn around and sell off, and this system seems to be trying to deter that, so those that ballot are the ones that really do want to see the event.

Also I have decided to try my luck and balloted myself for the event. I figured I should try as I got the You & J membership in hopes of balloting for a NEWS concert with it, but I'm not sure if that will actually happen now as I only have until about the end of February here in Japan and they haven't announced a group concert yet. So I figure I might as well use it for something, and I really feel this event is more than worth while to do so.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that you have to pay for the ticket as well. It's only 3500Yen each, with then a 500Yen charge added on for handling and the like, but considering how much a concert ticket tends to cost I don't think it's a bad price. Also they have a schedule up for when to expect things to happen, like the balloting announcement (Nov. 20th), the payment deadline and when they will send out the tickets. So by the end of this upcoming week I will either be lost in joy or slightly depressed.