Ready to go wild at Summer Sonic? Well, let’s get you to the venue so that you can live out your music festival fantasies.
Summer Sonic, as you no doubt know, is held simultaneously in Osaka at Maishima Sports Island and in “Tokyo” at Zozo Marine Stadium — except the latter venue is actually in Chiba Prefecture. Never fear, it’s a short roll down the railway tracks; you’ll be hot, sweaty and crowdsurfing in no time (wait, scrap that last action — it’ll get you ejected from the concert).
Taking the train from Tokyo to Summer Sonic
For Zozo Marine Stadium, the closest station is Kaihin-Makuhari Station, which is often written as Kaihimmakuhari. It’s a 40-minute (or so) ride on the JR Keiyō Line from Tokyo Station and costs ¥570 one way.
It doesn’t make much of a difference whether you take the local or express train; the former adds only 6–7 minutes to the journey. If you’re coming from somewhere else in Tokyo, you can plot your route on Hyperdia. From Kaihimmakuhari Station, it’s a seven-minute walk to Makuhari Messe (one of the festival zones), and about another seven to Zozo Marine Stadium (the other zone).
If you are finding all the Tokyo tickets sold out, try taking a cheap trip from Tokyo to Osaka by consulting our handy travel guide. Once in Osaka, you’ll need to take a train to Cosmosquare Subway Station (from Umeda Station it costs ¥280 with one transfer) and then a paid shuttle bus. The journey takes around 40 minutes. More information here.
Taking the bus from Tokyo to Summer Sonic
If you’re coming from Haneda Airport, you can take a limousine bus directly to Makuhari Bay Town. It takes about 40 minutes and costs ¥1,200. If you’re coming from anywhere else, get yourself to a station and train your way there with all of us plebs.
For more in-depth info on the whole gig, plus how much to budget for Summer Sonic (and other Japanese music festivals), give our dedicated guide a read.
While we do our best to ensure it’s correct, information is subject to change. This post was first published in 2017. Last updated in August 2022.
