How Many Stadiums?

I have 86 stadiums registered in my database. Don't have enough time to elaborate right now. More later.

OK. Some explanation. Of the 86 teams in my database, I've found three duplicates, dropping that total down to 83. [Fiddle with database, duplicated entries are now dropped. References to deleted stadiums updated.] After removing "To be announced" and "Unknown" I have a total of 81 stadiums. If you consider Green Stadium Kobe and Yahoo BB to be the same (they are the same stadium, just with the name plate changed), then that drops the total down to 80.

Now, what are these 80 stadiums? They're the 11 main stadiums (see this thread) plus the stadiums used as "home away from home" country side sites for games both during the regular season and pre-season over the past few years.

The stadium names:

+-----------------+
| StadiumName     |
+-----------------+
| Akashi          |
| Aki             |
| Akita           |
| Asahikawa       |
| Chatan          |
| Chiba Marine    |
| Fujiidera       |
| Fukui           |
| Fukuoka Dome    |
| Fukushima       |
| Fukuyama        |
| Gifu            |
| Green Stadium   |
| Hakodate        |
| Hamamatsu       |
| Haruno          |
| Hikone          |
| Himeji          |
| Hiratsuka       |
| Hiroshima       |
| Hitachinaka     |
| Iwaki           |
| Jingu           |
| Kagoshima       |
| Kamagaya        |
| Kanazawa        |
| Kariya          |
| Kinowan         |
| Kita-Kyushu     |
| Komaki          |
| Koshien         |
| Kumamoto        |
| Kurashiki       |
| Kurasu          |
| Kure            |
| Kushiro         |
| Maebashi        |
| Matsumoto       |
| Matsuyama       |
| Miyako          |
| Miyakonojyo     |
| Miyazaki        |
| Mizuho          |
| Morioka         |
| Nagano          |
| Nagasaki        |
| Nago            |
| Nagoya Dome     |
| Naruto          |
| Nichinan        |
| Nishi-Kyogoku   |
| Obihiro         |
| Odate           |
| Ohita           |
| Onomichi        |
| Osaka Dome      |
| Saga            |
| Sagamihara      |
| Sapporo         |
| Sapporo Dome    |
| Seibu Dome      |
| Sendai          |
| Shimada         |
| Shimonoseki     |
| Shizuoka        |
| Taipei          |
| Takamatsu       |
| Takasago        |
| Tokuyama        |
| Tokyo Dome      |
| Tomiyama        |
| Toyohashi       |
| Toyota          |
| Ube             |
| Urasoe          |
| Yahoo BB        |
| Yamagata        |
| Yamaguchi       |
| Yokohama        |
| Yokosuka        |
| Yonago          |
+-----------------+

Now, is this an exhuastive list? I doubt it. In fact, I'm quite sure that a few slipped through the cracks. Also, I'm sure that some of these names have different readings to their names as I track down a few every year.

These are just the stadiums used by professional baseball in Japan at some level or another. There are many more used for the industrial leagues, colleges, and high schools throughout Japan. Your question is rather vague on that point. Furthermore, many historically significan stadiums that no longer stand are excluded from this list, such as Korakuen and Kawasaki.

What is the purpose of your question? Will you share your research results with us when you're done?

I thank you westbaystars! Then why does the Nippon Ham Fighter share a stadium with the Yomiuri Giants?

No rain outs and it's easy to get to by train, I assume. Nippon Ham (and, iirc, when they were the Tokyu Toei/Nittaku Home Flyers as well) also played in Korakuen Stadium, which was also the home ground of the Tokyo Giants.

Meiji Jingu Stadium, when it's not being used by the Yakult Swallows, is mainly used for Tokyo Big Six University League games and, again iirc, also for the Japanese National College Baseball Championships. There is also a separate fall college tournament it is used for.

You do remember correctly about the Fighters sharing Korakuen with the Giants before Tokyo Dome was built adjacent to the historic stadium. (An amusement park called Korakuen now stands there.) So the "no rain outs" might be a reason to share Tokyo Dome, but, while I don't know the true reason, it seems to me that they share it because they shared Korakuen before Tokyo Dome was built.

So, the question should have been, "Why have the Nippon Ham Fighters and Tokyo Giants shared their stadiums?"

Again, this is something farther back in history than I know. My own guess would be to have a small share of the Tokyo crowd, where even a fraction of a 1% could support a team. (It's turning out to be rather hard, thus their move to Hokkaido where they won't have as much competition.) I also think that, from the parent's franchise standpoint, being located at the same stadium as the Giants helps associate Nippon Ham with the Giants. It's rather ironic that Itoh Ham is the Giants' official pork product sponsor.

In 1952, there were 4 teams (Fighters, Giants, Marines, and Swallow [franchise names]) that played in Korakuen Stadium. The Giants and Swallows are both in the Central League, and the Marines and Fighters are both in the Pacific League.

Remember 1952 is just 7 years after the WWII ended. Japan's occupation by the Americans just ended in 1951. The country was devastated back then, as you know. Korakuen was one of the few intact ballpark venues in Tokyo.

Also, I just wanted to point out that the Marines did not exist back then. They were called the Mainichi Orions.

This is like asking why the New York Jets share the stadium with New York Giants.

If you are interested in Japanese stadiams, check this out: 2 Sport Stadium Guide [in Japanese].

I hope you enjoy this site.

[Admin: There was a second site listed, but it gave a 404 Not Found error and was removed.]

Thank you your help.

I have another question. If Japan has 80 stadiums, why just 12 professional teams? I think it can have 20!

Many of the stadiums, as I understand it, are only used for several games in a year and wouldn't be suitable for full-time use as a home field for a top-level club. Also, look at the current situation -- there's talk the Hawks are in enough financial difficulty to post Iguchi, and the Fighters are moving in hopes of improving their financial picture.

More importantly, only 2 teams in the Pacific League exceed an average attendance of 20,000 per game, and one of those is the Lions at 22,000. The league leading Hawks are the only ones over 22,000 per game in the whole league (they're over 45,000 for home games). In the Central League, the BayStars are under 23,800, and the Carp under 14,000.

It sure doesn't look like a situation which would support more teams, much less 8 of them, given that the new teams would likely a) dilute the fan bases of the existing teams, many of whom are not currently drawing 1.5 million fans a year, and/or b) be unable to compete effectively unless they c) began bidding wars for existing players (or the rules on foreigners was drastically altered -- and that approach might lead to problems with the majors). If the new teams were poor teams, it would be very hard to build and maintain a fan base for them.

In short, expansion of that magnitude would cause a lot of disruption in the healthiest of professional sports leagues, and NPB has existing challenges of significant size to deal with.

The U.S. population is 260 million, Japan is 130 million. The U.S. has 3O teams, Japan has 12. Make sense? It's economics. Also, everyone agrees that MLB over-expanded. There should not be teams in Montreal and Tampa.

There are 80 stadiums in Japan of which about 6 are domes, I guess.

You're right. These are the 6 dome official home page:

• Sapporo Dome
• Seibu Dome
• Tokyo Dome
• Nagoya Dome
• Osaka Dome
• Fukuoka Dome

And the open-air stadiums are:

• Jingu Stadium
• Yokohama Stadium
• Chiba Marine Stadium
• Koshien
• Yahoo BB Stadium (Green Stadium Kobe)
• Hiroshima Shimin Kyujyo

There are only 3 grass stadiums and 9 artificial turf.

The most beautiful stadium in Japan is probably Seibu Dome of the Seibu Lions and Yahoo BB Stadium for the Orix Blue Wave, both surrounded by lots of nature.

Koshien stadium, home ground of the Hanshin Tigers, is the oldest and biggest stadium in Japan.

I visited all the principal stadiums this May and I would say that the Yahoo BB is the prettiest stadium. It also has good sight lines and comfortable seats. I'm speaking as a tall American baseball fan here however. The only problem with Kobe is that you have to watch Orix play there.

Seibu Dome is nice, but it is such a long way from Tokyo that I mark it down a bit.

Koshien is easily the most historic and, with the Tigers' fantastic season, it is an experience. Just prepare yourself for very tiny seats. People compare it to Wrigley Field, but I compare it to the Rose Bowl, which although a football stadium, is big, but the seats are built for people of a much older era.

The other domes, Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka, were not particularly interesting. Fukuoka was the nicest and the Buddha with hawk wings outside was a nice touch. Osaka Dome tries hard, but no one wants to see the Buffaloes, unfortunately. Tokyo Dome's big drawback is that it just has no character.

Nagoya Dome seemed a little nicer than Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka. Better lighting and more varied colors gave it a more interesting appearance.

For the other outdoor parks:

Hiroshima is a simple park. Nothing fancy. The Carp hope to build a new one that is supposed to be modeled after Pittsburgh's PNC park. That would be weird to see in Japan.

Chiba has a nice park, but it's cold and windy, and well, the Marines play there.

Jingu has Koshien's history (it's pretty old), but I didn't like the beat up artificial surface.

Yokohama is in a convenient location and cozy. It has nothing special about it, however.

Between April and July, Japan is ravaged by the "tsuyu (rainy season)." Domes makes a lot of economic sense to Japan. Hokkaido should not have one because there is no tsuyu in Hokkaido.

Ah yes, but it gets bitterly cold during the winter. Perhaps they were thinking of holding other events there during the off season? So that it makes more economic sense?

Sapporo Dome is used for soccer in the winter, as well as the Masters League. Furthermore, having a dome makes it much more feasable to have a permanent team (i.e. Nippon Ham next year) as it makes playing ball from March to October much more pleasant - especially during the Spring and Fall.