So I went to Fukuoka with 2 friends: Hime & Mai. Our day started off at 5am so that we could get on the 5:30 bus that will get us to Incheon airport at 6:30. Our flight left at 8 am and we arrived in Fukuoka around 9:15.
We quickly checked into our hotel and headed for the dome! When we got there, we took pictures, quickly got our goods, and decided to pass out some cute stickers to other fans. Mai & I also had our Cassie towels, so a lot of the Bigeast wanted to take pics with us holding the Cassie & Bigeast Towels. CUTE!
Here is a video my friend Himeko Himura made of our journey and what we did at the Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome.
Okay. Differences between concerts in Korea & Japan.
Please keep in mind that I'm comparing Tohoshinki concerts in Japan and TVXQ concerts in Korea (& SM concerts in general).
These differences may not hold true for other artists in either country.
GOODS
First of all, in my opinion, HoMin's Japanese goods are consistently WAY better than their Korean goods. Also, I think it's really cool that they print out receipts with messages and can be another souvenir of the concert. Korea hasn't caught on to that yet. =/
For SM concerts, if you want goods, you have to get to the concert venue by 5-6am. Even though the goods tents don't open until noon or 1pm, you have to get there early or you will not get goods. Either because they sell out of the goods you want or you run out of time. It takes forever. You will be in the goods line for hours.
In Japan, there's hardly a line at any given time. Maybe there's one when the goods tents first open because people are waiting, but in my experience the goods line moves really fast.
Mai & I were really worried bc the Fukuoka goods tents opened at 10am, but we didn't get to the venue until 11 or noon. Because we're used to the SM goods line, we were freaking out but it was totally fine.
In Japan, there seemed to be more tents and staff, but it seriously blows my mind how efficient their goods line was. I think it's a combination of the fact that Japanese goods are so expensive, they're available on the Mu-mo website, and also many ppl don't travel to Japanese concerts.
So, fans probably only buy a few things at the venue to get the receipt with the message on it and if they want a lot, it's easier for them to order the rest through the website.
In Korea, you can pretty much only get these goods if you go to the concert. They're not available online through an official website. They're way cheaper than Japanese goods, so fans usually buy huge quantities. Also, there's a HUGE number of overseas fans who come to the SM concerts in Korea and they buy 5 (which is the limit) of every single fan good available to bring back to their country. I guess for friends or to sell on fan sites.
But I think this all adds up to making SM's goods lines extremely slow.
PRE-CONCERT ACTIVITIES AT THE VENUE
In Japan, there were a couple of things you could do.
There's buying goods and taking pictures of the trucks and various toho stands. At the time, Ocean was about to come out, so they had places where you could preorder the single. They were also selling a bunch of Toho cds. Other than that, there was really nothing else to do.
We walked around, found somewhere to eat, took pictures with other fans, but we totally had time to go back to our hotel room & take a nap for an hour before going back to the venue.
In Korea, you totally can't do that. Unless, you live ridiculously close to the venue, you don't leave. SM Concerts are an all-day thing. You get there at 5-6 am for goods then you cross your fingers and hope to be done by 2 pm. After that, for the TVXQ concert, we picked up our Cassie towels and SM Passports and then took pictures of the photo stands. There are a few food stalls around the venue, so you find a place to get lunch. There were lots of fan events going on-- giving out uchiwas, cards, fan projects/chants, etc. The boys also had a Missha tent where you could get a free Missha sample and a Genie tent where you could play a game and win prizes. By the time you're done with all that, it's time to line up for the concert.
So, it seems like you have more time to relax in Japan. Although, it seems like they had more things going on for the Nissan concert. Anyway, in general there are definitely more activities in SM concerts.
CHEERING/SCREAMING
The boys have commented on this in past interviews, but it's totally true. Japanese fans usually don't scream or yell things out during the actual performance. They do it during ments, but during the songs they just wave their lightstick or sing along softly.
(For rock concerts, the fans are definitely much more active. They sing along and standing is pretty much one big mosh pit.)
In Korea, you lose your voice by the end of the concert. You scream your head off. You sing along, do the fan chants, and cheer for everything.
So, Mai & I talked and we decided that this will probably be our only chance to see a Tohoshinki concert. And we're going to have as much fun as humanly possible and not waste this moment. So, we did all the fanchants, sang along, and screamed like we were at a Korean concert.
Yes, it wasn't the polite / considerate thing to do with all the Japanese fans around us, but we had fun and it was definitely a memorable night. =)
At Fukuoka YAHOO! Dome. Pictures and samples of the goods items.
GOODS! 
GOT YUNHO'S RECEIPT~! The message says that he wants to see everyone in Fukuoka. He wrote it using Fukuoka's dialect (Fukuoka-ben).
Toho Trucks at Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome
Lines to get inside the dome. ALMOST SHOW TIME!~
