The Diet on Saturday passed a bill that will prohibit ticket scalping for concerts and sports events in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
The legislation, unanimously approved by the House of Councilors in the predawn hours following its passage Tuesday in the Lower House, bans the resale of tickets at higher than their original prices and taking possession of tickets for the purpose of scalping.
Violators of the new law will face jail terms of up to one year or fines of up to ¥1 million, or both.
In Japan, there had been no law to control online scalping of tickets for popular events including professional baseball games. Ticket brokering was prohibited on streets and other public places under local ordinances.
Both ruling and opposition lawmakers cooperated on the enactment of the new law.
Ticket sales for the Olympics will begin next year. To prevent the resale of tickets for profit, the organizing committee for the games had called for tougher regulations.
Subject to the ban are tickets that designate seats or the names of spectators in advance. The law also requires event organizers to make efforts to identify ticket holders.