(Jan. 24, 2019) With the 2020 Summer Olympics due to begin in Japan in July 2020, the Diet (Japan’s Parliament) has enacted a law aimed at preventing Olympic tickets from becoming unaffordable because of ticket scalping. ([Tokyo Olympics] Ticket Resale Law Will Provide Penalty, Imprisonment up to 1 year: Liberal Democratic Party Members, SANKEI (Mar. 6, 2018) (in Japanese); Act Securing Proper Distribution of Entertainment Tickets by Prohibiting Illegal Resale of Specific Entertainment Tickets, Etc., Act No. 103 of 2018, KANPOU (official gazette) Extra Ed. No. 276, at 74 (Dec. 14, 2018), Kanpou website (in Japanese).) The Act will take effect by June 2019. (Act Securing Proper Distribution of Entertainment Tickets, Supp. Provisions art. 1.)
The Act will ban the resale of particular tickets at prices higher than face value and their purchase for scalping. (Act Securing Proper Distribution of Entertainment Tickets arts. 3 & 4.) These tickets must (1) state that unauthorized resale is prohibited, (2) designate the time and place of the event, and (3) designate either eligibility to enter the venue or the seats to be occupied. The organizer of the event must also take measures to confirm the name, telephone number, and email address of the person whose ticket grants admission to a venue or the name and contact information of the person whose ticket reserves a specific seat. Tickets must include descriptions that that those measures have been taken. (Id. art. 2, para. 3.)
Violators are punishable by imprisonment for up to one year and/or fines of up to 1 million yen (about US$9,220). (Id. art. 9.)