Lawson HMV Entertainment, a ticket-selling unit of the Japanese chain, will join China-based Alibaba's travel booking site, Fliggy, on Wednesday and begin operating there from the middle of this month. By September's end, it will offer tickets to several dozen facilities in Japan, including art museums and aquariums, and will later expand to offer the likes of fireworks shows and theaters.
Users will be able to purchase the tickets in Chinese through Fliggy, then pick them up at dedicated terminals in Lawson stores upon arrival in Japan. The tickets' base price will be unchanged, but surcharges for handling will be added.
Lawson HMV will offer tickets to various attractions in the greater Tokyo area, including Kawasaki City's Fujiko F. Fujio Museum, dedicated to the works of a beloved children's comic artist. Besides ticket sales, the Lawson arm will also offer Chinese-language guidance and event information via Fliggy. For the Japanese facilities, the deal presents a chance to become more widely known in China.
Lawson is also equipping its roughly 13,000 stores in Japan to accept Alibaba's Alipay mobile payment service. It aims to promote its convenience-store goods to Chinese visitors coming in to get their tickets.
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