READYFOR Advance Tickets in English: Risoukyo Christmas Market

Updated October 30, 2026

Images are for illustration.

Advance tickets for the Risoukyo Christmas Market are sold only as rewards on READYFOR, a Japanese crowdfunding site, until Nov 3. Here is what that means, what each ticket costs, and the steps to pledge without reading Japanese.

Key points

Advance tickets exist only as crowdfunding "returns" (rewards) on READYFOR: admission for 2 is ¥3,000, admission for 4 is ¥5,000, and a ticket with a heated paid seat for 1 person is ¥5,000. READYFOR adds a separate system fee.
The campaign is All-or-Nothing with a goal of ¥2,000,000 and ends Tuesday, Nov 3, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. JST. If the goal is not reached, the market cannot be held and supporters are refunded.
READYFOR is a Japanese-language site. Use your browser's translate feature, or ask a Japanese-speaking friend for help with the checkout.
Regular admission tickets are "coming soon" and are not on sale yet. They will be announced on the official page and on LINE.

Why tickets are on a crowdfunding site

The Risoukyo Christmas Market 2026 is the first of its kind at Handmade Village Risoukyo in Towada, Aomori. It is planned for Wednesday, Dec 23 to Sunday, Dec 27, 2026, from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. To fund it, the organizers launched a crowdfunding campaign on READYFOR, one of Japan's best-known crowdfunding platforms. Instead of paying for a ticket the usual way, you back the project and choose a "return": a reward that the project owner promises to give you in exchange for your pledge. For this market, three of those returns are advance tickets. See the English overview for the event itself.

It is worth saying plainly: this is not a standard ticket shop. It is a pledge, and the market happening depends on the pledges adding up. That makes the next section important.

How All-or-Nothing works

The campaign is All-or-Nothing. The goal is ¥2,000,000. If the total reaches it by the deadline, the project goes ahead and the returns are delivered. If it does not, the Risoukyo Christmas Market cannot be held and supporters are refunded in full. The official Japanese page puts it the same way: if the goal is not met, the market is not held and pledges are refunded.

The deadline given on the official page is Tuesday, Nov 3, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. JST. READYFOR's own project page shows a countdown, and the end time it displays may be formatted differently from the official page. If you see two different times, go by the earlier one: treat 6:00 p.m. JST as the cut-off and aim to finish well before it. Anyone stationed at Misawa is already on JST. If you are pledging from the US, remember that JST is 14 hours ahead of US Eastern Standard Time, so 6:00 p.m. JST on Nov 3 is about 4:00 a.m. Eastern on Nov 3.

The campaign raised ¥1,000,000 in its first week. Check the live total on the READYFOR page, since it changes daily.

The three ticket rewards and their prices

The official page lists these advance tickets as returns. Each price has READYFOR's system fee added on top. The project page does not state the fee amount for these returns. READYFOR's help page on bank transfers mentions a ¥220 supporter system usage fee, but that is in the bank-transfer context, so use the total shown at checkout as the final number.

Admission ticket for 2 people: ¥3,000.
Admission ticket for 4 people: ¥5,000.
Ticket with a heated paid seat, 1 person: ¥5,000. This is a reserved paid seat in the heated area. The project page showed a limited stock for this return, so it can sell out.

Compare those with the planned regular admission: adults ¥1,500; high school and university students ¥1,000; junior high and younger ¥500; age 5 and under free. A 2-person ticket at ¥3,000 equals two adults at the planned price, and a 4-person ticket at ¥5,000 is less than four adults at ¥6,000. Whether the advance tickets are a better deal depends on your group. For a family with young kids who would pay ¥500 or nothing, the regular tickets, once they go on sale, may be cheaper. Do the math for your own group.

When and how you receive the tickets

According to the READYFOR project page, entry-type rewards will be sent by email at least 7 days before the event opens, and the admission tickets for 2 and 4 are valid for 12 months from issue. The heated seat return did not list a validity period on the page. Check the return's description at checkout, as these details can change.

The project page also lists other returns, including vendor plans, sponsor plans, a family decoration plan and a support-only option. For a visitor who simply wants to attend, the three tickets above are the relevant ones.

Finding the right buttons

You do not need to search READYFOR yourself. The official Japanese page, risoukyo.com/christmas, has a section called 来場される方へ ("For visitors") with a button for each ticket reward. Each button is labeled with the return's name and tells you it opens an external site, which is READYFOR. The English page, /en/christmas, has the same buttons. Click the one for the ticket you want, and it opens the READYFOR page for that return in a new tab.

The READYFOR project itself is at readyfor.jp/projects/risoukyo, which is the address the official page links to.

What you need before you start

READYFOR's help center says you need a READYFOR account to support a project. Have these ready:

An email address you can open right now, since you will register and confirm with it.
A payment method (see the next section).
Your name. The help center notes that names are limited to 20 characters in the delivery fields, and that you can use a display name that does not identify you if you prefer to support anonymously.

Payment methods: what READYFOR says

Here is what READYFOR's official help center says about payment methods. Here is what it says, and only what it says.

Credit card: VISA, Mastercard, JCB, American Express and Diners Club are accepted, including prepaid cards issued under those brands. Payment is a single payment only, not installments. The card issuer may show a 3D Secure authentication screen.
Not accepted: QR-code payments such as PayPay, and electronic money.
Convenience-store payment and bank transfer: these are the only other methods listed. The page says both are not available for overseas residents. It is not clear how READYFOR treats someone living in Japan on a military base, so do not count on either one. Convenience-store payment is cash only at FamilyMart, Lawson or MiniStop, and bank transfer means sending money to the account READYFOR emails you.
Timing: for pledges made on or after July 1, 2026, crowdfunding pledges by credit card are charged when the pledge is made. This project says supporters are refunded if the goal is not reached.
Statement name: the charge shows up as "READYFOR" or a katakana variant.

What the page does not say: whether a card issued outside Japan will work. It does not state a rule either way. READYFOR also has a help article titled "Supporting from overseas"; if your card is issued outside Japan, read it or ask READYFOR support. If you hit a card error, contact READYFOR through its help center, or ask the Risoukyo team through the official page. Do not assume it will work, and do not wait until the last day to find out.

Step by step: pledging on READYFOR

This general outline follows READYFOR's official guide to supporting a project. Screens change from time to time, so treat it as a map, not a script.

Open the ticket button on the English page or the official page (Japanese). Turn on your browser's translation first (see below).
Log in or register. New users create an account with an email address and password, then confirm through the email READYFOR sends.
Choose your return and quantity. Pick the support button on the ticket return you want. You can change the quantity using the dropdown menu. Check the total at the bottom of the screen.
Choose a payment method. Credit card is the method with no residency restriction on the help page. Enter the card number, expiry and the other card details, and complete 3D Secure if your bank asks.
Fill in the contact fields. Delivery address fields only appear when the project owner requires them. The tickets here are delivered by email, so look carefully at what the form asks.
Review and confirm. The confirm button is 「支援を確定する」 ("Confirm support"). Click it once. Do not click again, reload the page or use the back button until the confirmation screen appears.
Check your support history. If you are unsure the pledge went through, look at your support history on READYFOR. If it is listed there, it was accepted. A confirmation email should also arrive; keep it.

Two more rules from the help center. A return cannot be changed after you submit; you would need to cancel the pledge and make a new one. And pledges are per account, so joint pledges are not accepted.

Using browser translate

You do not need to read Japanese, but you do need good translation. A few practical tips:

Chrome and Edge: right-click on the page and choose the translate option, or click the translate icon in the address bar and pick English. Safari: use the translate button in the address bar. Check the exact menu names on your browser version.
Translate again on each new page. Some browsers stop translating when the page changes after login or checkout.
Double-check the amounts. Numbers and yen amounts survive translation, but button labels sometimes get garbled. Read the total at the bottom before you confirm.
Keep the original visible. Pasting the Japanese text of the return into a translation tool is a good second opinion if something looks odd.
Ask a friend. A Japanese-speaking coworker, neighbor or friend can sit with you for the checkout, and that is the simplest way to avoid mistakes.

Regular tickets: coming soon

If you miss the crowdfunding deadline or prefer to wait, regular admission tickets are planned. The official page lists them as coming soon. They are not sold on this website or through LINE yet, and the organizers say the start of sales will be announced on the official page and on LINE. Planned prices: adults ¥1,500; high school and university students ¥1,000; junior high and younger ¥500; age 5 and under free.

One thing to keep in mind: the whole market depends on the crowdfunding goal being reached. If it falls short, the market cannot be held, and there would be nothing for regular tickets to buy. If you are planning to come, supporting before the deadline is also a way to help make it happen.

Once you have a ticket sorted, our guides to traveling from Misawa in winter and what to wear cover the rest of the trip.

At a glance: Risoukyo Christmas Market 2026

Dates: Wednesday, Dec 23 to Sunday, Dec 27, 2026 (5 days)
Hours: 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. (15:00 to 21:00) (planned)
Venue: Handmade Village Risoukyo, 2-21 Torigamori, Fukamochi, Towada, Aomori 034-0106
Admission (planned): adults ¥1,500; high school and university students ¥1,000; junior high and younger ¥500; age 5 and under free
Parking: 300+ spaces (planned)

Details are planned and may change — see the English overview and the official page (Japanese).

FAQ

What is a "return" on READYFOR?

A return is the reward a project owner offers in exchange for your pledge. For the Risoukyo Christmas Market, the advance tickets are returns: admission for 2 (¥3,000), admission for 4 (¥5,000) and a ticket with a heated paid seat for 1 person (¥5,000), plus a separate READYFOR system fee.

When does the crowdfunding end?

The official page says Tuesday, Nov 3, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. JST. It is All-or-Nothing with a goal of ¥2,000,000. Do not wait until the final hour.

Does READYFOR accept foreign credit cards?

READYFOR's payment help page lists VISA, Mastercard, JCB, American Express and Diners Club, and says convenience-store payment and bank transfer are not available for overseas residents. It does not say whether cards issued outside Japan are accepted, so contact READYFOR if you have a problem.

Is READYFOR available in English?

READYFOR does not offer an English interface that we know of. Treat it as a Japanese-language site, use your browser's translate tool, and consider asking a Japanese-speaking friend to help.

What happens if the goal is not reached?

The market cannot be held, and supporters are refunded. If the goal is reached, the project goes ahead and the tickets are sent by email at least 7 days before the event opens, per the project page.