What Is Ginte? Silver Tape at Japanese Concerts: How to Catch, Keep and Trade It

A silver tape fell during the live show, printed with the show name, and of course you want to keep it as a memento. Here is what ginte means, how it relates to the staging, what to watch for when catching it, and the fun of storing and remaking it.

What Ginte (銀テ) Means

Ginte is the tape (silver tape) fired into the audience as a live show effect. It got the name because silver was the standard, but in practice it comes in many varieties: gold, an oshi color, gradients.

In many cases it’s printed with the show name, date, tour title and a message or signature from the members, and it becomes a fan’s treasure as physical proof that “I was there that day.”

Where the Word Comes From

Ginte is short for “silver tape,” the common name for the effect item fired near the end of a show and at similar moments. Even when the actual color is gold, red or an oshi color, the whole set of staging tapes is sometimes called ginte.

GinteTape fired into the crowd

• Show namePrinted on the tape
• DateProof of the day
• Tour titleWhich tour you saw
• Member messageA message or signature
• ColorsSilver, gold, oshi colors

Physical proof that "I was there that day."

Examples

• “I finally caught my first ginte ever!”
• “A kind woman next to me shared some of her ginte.”
• “Today’s ginte came in five member colors.”
• “The moment the ginte fell, my memory went completely blank.”
• “I thought I’d split it into one for keeping and one for admiring, but in the end I can’t touch either.”
• Social media post example: “Offering ginte from the ○○ show. Looking for a new home for it.”

Common Misconceptions

• It doesn’t fly at every show — Ginte is part of the staging. Shows where it doesn’t fly are perfectly normal
• A seat where you can’t catch any isn’t a bad seat — Depending on the launch position and the wind, missing it is an everyday event even in the front area known as kamiseki (godly seats)
• A whole single length isn’t the “proper” one — It’s common to cut a long tape and split it among several people, and a cut piece is a perfectly good single memory

Ginte, Paper Tape and Special Effects Compared

Things that fall into the audience have similar names but are treated differently. This is a guide for reading reports and trade requests.

If someone asks, “Were there special effects today?”, they’re asking whether tape flew. Knowing that speeds up conversations.

A souvenir

Ginte

• Printed with show, date, message
• Fans usually take it home

Staging

Paper tape

• Plain tape for effects
• Sometimes collected afterward

The mechanism

Tape cannon

• The device or the effect
• Not an object to keep

Asking about special effects means asking whether tape flew.

The Reality of Catching It or Not

Ginte depends on the position of the launcher and the wind. There are tendencies, such as flying more easily toward the middle to back of the arena, but it is basically luck.

Catching manners matter too. Running out into the aisle while it’s in the air or crossing into other seating areas is not okay. A safe attitude is to stay within your own seat area and count yourself lucky if it comes within reach. Wait until the show is over to calmly pick up tape that fell at your feet.

The standard routes if you couldn’t catch any:

1. Get a share on the spot — There’s a culture of people who caught a lot handing some to those around them. Asking “could I have one?” is nothing to be embarrassed about
2. Trades and giveaways between fans — Search “ginte” plus “giveaway” on social media. Follow the manners of goods trading
3. Caution: Don’t buy expensive resale items. It would be taking part in ruining the going rate

1. 01Stay in your seatNever run into the aisle
2. 02Wait for the endPick up fallen tape calmly
3. 03Ask nearbyMany people share on the spot
4. 04Trade onlineSearch giveaways on social media
5. 05Skip resaleAvoid prices far above the going rate

Kindness between fans is part of the souvenir.

“Things That Fall” Culture Differs by Genre

Ginte culture is especially developed at idol and large-scale pop lives. In band scenes, confetti, balloons and picks or towels thrown by performers become the “proof of the day,” and in stage and classical settings there may be no culture of falling items at all. Knowing that “something falls into the audience and becomes a keepsake” is a culture belonging to part of the genres keeps you from being confused at your first genba.

Standard Ways to Keep and Remake It

• Ginte holder / keychain — A staple at 100-yen shops and oshi-katsu goods stores. There are types you cut and insert and types you roll and insert
• Lay it flat in a hard case — For people who want to keep it unfolded. Decide where you’ll cut before putting the scissors in, and it fits without splitting the printing
• Attach to an ita-bag — A style of walking around wearing your show record
• Bottle or frame storage — Gather ginte from multiple shows into a “specimen of memories”

To prevent fading of the printed side, avoid direct sunlight above all.

From The Oshi Lab: A Design That Completes When the People Who Caught It Share

Ginte is a leading example of goods that have value not as an “object” but as “a record of time.” Even if the manufacturing cost is slight, the moment a date and show name go on it, it becomes a one-of-a-kind keepsake. This “materialization of an experience” is the essence of fan-goods design, and its range of application is not limited to live shows. Date, place, name: just by giving it a recording quality, an object becomes a memory.

What’s more interesting is that ginte is a design that completes when “the people who caught it hand it out.” A keepsake that falls at random naturally produces the fan-to-fan interaction of “sharing,” and the memory of that kindness becomes part of the memory. Rather than making sure everyone gets one, deliberately leaving room for chance and sharing: for event designers, ginte is a good example of the paradox that “inequality creates interaction.”

Related Terms

Penlight / Goods trading / Ita-bag / Genba