Volks Doll Party

I know Volks has Doll party's ever so often. I have a few questions: is there a way to see what events are going to happen in advance? How can a foreigner acquire tickets to set events, mostly pertaining to doll parties held in Tokyo.

There are a few people here who have travel to Japan to attend a Dolpa. They do have instructions in English.

Going to Dolpa is doable when on vacation.

 

Releases: Info on the dolls, clothes, and accessories to be sold at Dolpa will be announced online and in the print version Volks News about 3 weeks before the day of the event. Info on what the dealers are bringing can be found on the individual dealers' websites, twitter, and the like (optional). Info on the SD one-off models will be on Volks' Instagram close to the event, maybe just a few days out.

 

Getting in: Requires an Entry Ticket, purchasable at Volks shops around Tokyo (or elsewhere). Buying a doll or clothes (anything other than dealers) requires you to buy a Dolpa Guidebook in addition to the ticket, also sold at Volks. You can buy these up to the day before the event. Absolutely go to a Volks store and buy these at least a day in advance; under no cirbleepstances try to buy tickets at the door, because at-door sales are delayed 3 hours after the start of the event and you'd miss everything that way.

 

It is possible to buy Dolpa Guidebooks online and have them EMS'd to you before you go to Japan, but that is risky and expensive. Try to avoid it if your travel schedule allows.

Since May Dolpa at least (possibly earlier, as I hadnt been to one in a year) they changed the ticketing and now the guidebook IS the ticket. So there’s now only two tiers of entry, regular (Ie guidebook) and Xpass, and any attendee can do anything at Dolpa. The Xpasses get you in a whole half hour earlier than they start letting the rest in, and there are only 500 of them...and they sell out within a minute or less and bring down the server. Then you see them sell on yahoo auctions for ludicrous amounts...(I tried to get one on may, refreshed the page at 10am, too late) The Xpass is mainly for people who want a specific dealers item that is likely to sell out quickly - it doesn’t give you any advantage whatsoever to the official volks items like limited dolls. (There is also a third tier of entry, late entry, which is cheaper but I would never recommend it...)

 

I know people here have bought the tickets online and had them ship overseas before they left for Japan. Since I will probably come back for a Dolpa eventually, I’ve been wondering about the best course of action myself.

 

To see the upcoming events you can check out the Dolpa Portal site. https://www.volks.co.jp/jp/dolpa_portal/index.html/

You can see they have a link to the site for the upcoming Sendai Dolpa, and info on the Tokyo one further down, which is December 16th. (Those other dates are deadlines for participating dealers to apply and submit their advertisements)

Each Dolpa gets its own site much closer to the date, and those sites have English pages too. The sites don’t go up until after the limited dolls are revealed.

However Dolpas are always at the same times, and in the same place every time except August.

 

March: Kyoto

Early May during golden week: Tokyo (its combined with HobbyRound, the event for Volks modelkits, and becomes JointFesta)

August: the location is different every year, this time it’s in Sendai. Since I joined the hobby it’s also been in Nagoya and Osaka.

December, usually a week before Christmas : Tokyo JointFesta again.

 

I have been to three Dolpas but they have always been Tokyo ones, so I cannot say if the Tokyo ones are bigger than the other ones (although they are in the very impressive Tokyo Big Sight if that matters to you) I seem to remember foo saying that the Kyoto One wasn’t that different in terms of size.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Guest

Thank you everyone. I would like to give a shout out to user TORINO. I was looking for a website, and couldn't put my finger on the website. I'm sad as I can't just go to a local VOLKS SITE "cough, cough, Korea" and get a ticket. I'll have to put a bit more effort into this, and try and see if they offer a bento like they have done in the past. Now if I plan on going whom to bring, decisions pursue.

I think the bento are only at the non-Tokyo ones. At least, ive never seen them at the Tokyo ones... I was curious about whether they were any good. They tend to have that areas speciality I think. I was gonna ask my friend to try one when they went to the Nagoya one but forgot to. I’m pretty sure it’s something you have to buy in advance (I think there’s an extra ticket for it??)

 

The Tokyo one last time had a food cart selling bread with frankfurts in them that they were calling ‘France hot dogs’. (Because..they were baguettes?) and apparently tacos or something I didn’t try either...to be honest I am too busy and filled with adrenaline that I usually just bring a bottle of water/tea and a box of CalorieMate to keep me going, and might get some bread item to eat while waiting in line for breakfast before going in. After the event I have a gigantic late lunch/early dinner.

I’m usually so busy running around buying stuff at photos o don’t even realize I haven’t had an actual meal all day.

...I’m not saying that’s -healthy- but hey.

Oh interesting, so Volks changed it back to guidebook-only now? That's what it was like when I was living in Japan, and then Volks implemented the ticket+book system after I left. I hadn't realized they changed it back again, but I'm glad they did. The guidebook seems like an easier system to implement all around for staff and attendees both.

 

Volks used to have bento available at Tokyo dolpas, but stopped offering it around 2014 I think. The first few dolpas I went to had it as an option, but the later ones did not. To be honest I didn't really miss it when they stopped offering the lunch, though. You can just walk a little ways from Big Sight back towards the train station and find Yoshinoya and conbinis for food, then go back to dolpa after lunch.

Way back when I went to a Dolpa Party at big site they had the Bento's. I pre-ordered one, it wasn't bad it just seemed a bit small. I don't remember what was all in it exactly, but remember that I wanted more . I got lucky last time as "cough, cough Volks had a store front in Korea cough cough". Now I want to go back again, and they are gone . Now I'm going to have to go early to Japan, as it takes mail an eternity to get to me.

Way back when I went to a Dolpa Party at big site they had the Bento's. I pre-ordered one, it wasn't bad it just seemed a bit small.

 

That sort of makes me think of the cookies they had as a part of an event. They are really tasty, but very tiny. You kind of wish they were about 4 times the size. I'd totally buy them if they sold them regularly though, they are really delicious cookies.

 

I'm probably just too used to our oversized American portions for things.

Way back when I went to a Dolpa Party at big site they had the Bento's. I pre-ordered one, it wasn't bad it just seemed a bit small.

 

That sort of makes me think of the cookies they had as a part of an event. They are really tasty, but very tiny. You kind of wish they were about 4 times the size. I'd totally buy them if they sold them regularly though, they are really delicious cookies.

Same here, they are small "Doll Sized" almost.

Same here, they are small "Doll Sized" almost.

 

Then again maybe that is the point.

 

Then again maybe that is the point.

HMMM.... I don't know but the little gatcha machines for the Party stuff was nice.

Can anyone help keep me posted on when tickets go on sale in Japan for doll party 40. This event is in Tokyo this 16 of December 2018. I may need help obtaining a ticket/book for event from Usa/Korea. Thanks in advance.

They usually don’t go on sale until the beginning of December if I remember correctly, but they’ll probably post about it in November some time. The official site for the Dolpa has to go up first.