Kabukiza Theatre

Before you go

• Kabuki has no child fares: a child's ticket costs the same as an adult's. A single-act ticket keeps both the cost and the length down: about ¥800–2,500 depending on the play's length (2024 figures; a later note says prices have risen), whereas one full performance runs about four hours. With a young child, call Kabuki-za (03-3545-6800) by the day before to ask whether your child can use the single-act seats. For October 2026 (2–20 October, no show on the 9th), the parts start at 11:00, 14:30 and 18:00, but start times change each month (November: 11:00 and 16:30), and doors open 30 minutes before.
• Children may watch, but if a child talks or cries during the show, staff ask you to rest in the lobby; the stage is watched quietly, with no photos or recording (photos are fine in intermissions). In November 2026, during Act 4 of Kanadehon Chushingura in the day program, going in and out of the seating area is partly restricted. One family with a 3-year-old booked aisle seats so they could step out without bothering others. Choose the play too: a 7-year-old enjoyed an easy play whose original story she had heard read aloud beforehand, a schoolchild found a romance piece hard to follow, and a manga-style book from the theater's goods shop helped another child prepare.
• Ticket holders can use the Event Childcare Service, which looks after children aged 0–12 at Kids Space Mothers, next door to the theater, for ¥3,000 per child per performance. It is not available with single-act tickets, must be booked in advance, and runs only on the dates shown on each program's page. Book through the Mothers free-call line, 0120-788-222 (weekdays 10:00–12:00 and 13:00–17:00); bookings open at the start of the month before (November's opened on 1 October).
• Reserved seats sell through Ticket Web Shochiku (24 hours) or Ticket Phone Shochiku (10:00–17:00; 0570-000-489, or 03-6745-0888 in Tokyo); for availability in English, call +81 (0)3 6745-0888 or visit the box office in Kobikicho Plaza on B2. The multilingual online shop stops selling two days before and shows "Sold Out," but the phone line or window may still have seats. Single-act tickets sell online from noon the day before, and a few unreserved seats have been given out by queuing on the day for a numbered ticket; a notice of 30 September 2026 says same-day window tickets are changing to reserved seats, so check the current rules. At the window on the day, they have been cash only and one per person, with everyone in the group present (a 2020 account). These seats have their own small entrance, left of the main entrance, and an elevator straight to the fourth floor; that floor has toilets, vending machines and coin lockers but no food or drink counter, and you cannot enter other floors' restaurants or shops, so buy snacks first. After the show you walk down by stairs to the first floor. The stage is far, so bring binoculars; a handrail runs in front of the first row, so shorter viewers see better from the second.
• There is no eating at all during the show. During intermissions, though, you may eat at your seat or in the lobby, your own bento included, though apart from the box seats there are no tables, so food goes on your lap, and seats have no drink holders; with a regular-seat ticket, the second-floor space Ho, no longer a restaurant, is open in intermissions for eating your own bento and drinks (single-act tickets do not admit you to other floors). Programs usually have a longer intermission for a meal (one 2022 account says always over 30 minutes; Shochiku's guide says intermissions run about 10–30 minutes), so check the part you book. Bento for your seat sell at Obento-dokoro Yagura on B2 (no booking, performance days only, until sold out) and at the drink corners. Hanakago, the third-floor restaurant, needs booking by 17:00 two days before, with the menu chosen when you book, and outside food is not allowed there. No menu is fully allergy-safe, and people with severe allergies may be refused food.
• Higashi-Ginza Station's Exit 3 connects directly to the theater, and elevators appear on every floor map from B2 to the fifth floor. Toilets with a wheelchair symbol are marked on the B2, B1, second, third, fourth and fifth floor maps; the women's line gets very long in intermissions, and one family with a 3-year-old went at every intermission. Coin lockers are on B1 (28 large at ¥200, 136 small at ¥100) and the third floor (24 small at ¥100), and anything too big is kept at each floor's reception for ¥500 per item. There is no cloakroom, so one winter visitor held a long coat through the whole show, and one parent found the seats so narrow that a bag at their feet filled the space.
• For English, rent a subtitle device (English or simplified Chinese) at the first-floor counter: ¥1,500 for a full program or ¥1,000 for one act, cash only; single-act viewers use their own entrance, so ask the theater first whether they can rent one. The audio guide is Japanese only, and the Japanese program book has a detailed English synopsis at the back. The Kabuki-za Gallery is reached by its own elevator from Kobikicho Plaza (not every elevator stops at the fifth floor); its tickets were same-day and cash only as of 2021, and one undated account gives ¥800 for a 3-minute live stage, ¥1,000 for a 30-minute English audio tour and the props room, or ¥1,500 for everything. Kobikicho Plaza is open 9:30–18:30 during performance runs and 9:30–18:00 on other days.