Kōrakuen Stadium

Aerial view of today's Tokyo Dome City from 1974: On the right the Kōrakuen Stadium, next to it the Kōrakuen Keirin Stadium . Above right the amusement park, left the Koishikawa-Kōrakuen-Park and at the lower edge of the picture the Suidōbashi station .

The Kōrakuen Stadium ( Japanese 後 楽 園 球場 , Kōrakuen kyūjō ) was a baseball stadium built in Tokyo in 1937 . It offered space for around 30,000 spectators. In addition to baseball games, other sporting events such as boxing matches or football games took place in Kōrakuen. After the 1987 season, it was demolished to make way for the new Tokyo Dome .

The stadium was continuously the home of the Yomiuri Giants , and for a long time the Nippon Ham Fighters and their predecessors Tōkyū Flyers . In the 1950s, the Daiei Unions , Kokutetsu Swallows and Mainichi Orions also played their home games there, so that the Kōrakuen Stadium temporarily housed five baseball teams.

In 1970 the upper stands above the outfield were expanded, increasing the capacity by 10,000 spectators. In 1976 artificial turf was laid in the interior - a novelty in Japanese baseball at the time. In the same year, a preseason game of the National Football League (NFL) took place in Kōrakuen Stadium, the NFL's first game outside of North America.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ KK Tokyo Dome: Our Achievements ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ NFL History

Web links

• Tokyo Dome: History 1937–1987 (Japanese)

Coordinates: 35 ° 42 ′ 15.9 ″  N , 139 ° 45 ′ 12.6 ″  E