The price of a standard ticket in Japanese cinemas is going up for the first time in over a quarter of a century.
The consequent climb in audience numbers – reaching 169.2m in 2018, from a low of 119.6m in 1996 – gave exhibitors little motivation to raise the ticket price.
According to the Asahi Shimbun, the general admission ticket price was raised on 1 June from 1,800 yen to ¥1,900 (£13.85 or $17.50), the first increase in 26 years.
Moreover, a complex system of discounts means that the full ticket price is rarely paid, with the average ticket in 2008 costing around ¥1,200, rising to around ¥1,300 in 2017.