Tokyo Dome
東京ドーム
The Big Egg, Tokyo Big Egg
Location3, Koraku 1-chome, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
Public transit
OwnerTokyo Dome Corporation[lower-alpha 1]
(Mitsui Fudosan (80%) and The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings (20%))
Capacity42,000–55,000 (events)[1]
45,600 (baseball)[2]
Field sizeFacility Capacity Area[3]

Site: 112,456 m2 (27.788 acres)
Building: 46,755 m2 (503,270 sq ft)
Internal height: 56 m (184 ft) Field: 13,000 m2 (140,000 sq ft)
Left/right field – 100 m (330 ft)
Left/right-center – 110 m (360 ft)
Center field – 122 m (400 ft)
Capacity: 1,240,000 m3 (43.8 million cubic feet)

SurfaceAstroTurf (1988–2002)
FieldTurf (2003–present)
Construction
OpenedMarch 17, 1988
ArchitectNikken Sekkei, Takenaka Corporation[4]
BuilderTakenaka Corporation[4]
Structural engineerNikken Sekkei,[5] Geiger Engineers
Tenants
Yomiuri Giants (NPB) (1988–present)
Nippon-Ham Fighters (NPB) (1988–2003)[6]

Tokyo Dome (東京ドーム, Tōkyō Dōmu) is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium (whose former site is now occupied by the Tokyo Dome Hotel and a plaza for this stadium). In Japan, it is often used as a unit of size; for example, "the new construction is five times the size of Tokyo Dome."

Construction

Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of the Velodrome, adjacent to Korakuen Stadium and the Koishikawa-Kōrakuen garden. It has a maximum total capacity of 57,000 depending on configuration, with an all-seating configuration of 42,000.[7][6][8][9]

Tokyo Dome's original nickname was "The Big Egg", with some calling it the "Tokyo Big Egg".[10] Its dome-shaped roof is an air-supported structure, a cable-reinforced 0.8 mm flexible fiberglass membrane supported by slightly pressurizing the inside of the stadium[11] with 150,000 m3/hour[12] using independent blowers.[13] It was developed by Nikken Sekkei and Takenaka Corporation,[4] and modeled after the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.[10]

History

It is the home field of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team. On March 18, 1988, the day after the Tokyo Dome opened, the Yomiuri Giants held a game which was the first event in the Tokyo Dome.[14] The Yomiuri Giants host about 70 games a year at their home stadium, Tokyo Dome, and other Nippon Professional Baseball teams sometimes host several games a year at the Tokyo Dome. If the Yomiuri Giants advance to the Climax Series or the Japan Series, additional games will be held at Tokyo Dome. Interleague play, in which the Yomiuri Giants participate, will also be held at the Tokyo Dome. In 2021, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows advanced to the Japan Series, but they held the Japan Series at Tokyo Dome instead of their home stadium, Meiji Jingu Stadium. This was because the Japan Series had to be rescheduled due to the spread of COVID-19 infectious disease, and the dates overlapped with the game days of amateur baseball tournaments at Meiji Jingu Stadium.[15][16][17] Tokyo Dome is also the location of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame which chronicles the history of baseball in Japan.[18]

It has also hosted international baseball tournaments such as the World Baseball Classic and WBSC Premier12, Major League Baseball, music concerts, basketball, American football, and association football games, as well as puroresu (pro-wrestling) matches, mixed martial arts events, kickboxing events, and monster truck races. It became the first Japanese venue with an American football attendance above 50,000.[19]

Tokyo Dome City

Tokyo Dome is part of a greater entertainment complex known as Tokyo Dome City, built of the grounds of the former Tokyo Koishikawa arsenal. Tokyo Dome City includes an amusement park and Tokyo Dome City Attractions (formerly Kōrakuen Grounds). This amusement park occupies the former Korakuen Stadium site and includes a roller coaster named Thunder Dolphin and a hubless Ferris wheel. The grounds also have an onsen called Spa LaQua, various shops, restaurants, video game centers, the largest JRA WINS horse race betting complex in Tokyo, and Oft Korakuen, which caters to rural horse races.

Notable events other than Japanese professional baseball

Tokyo Dome
Tokyo Dome at night

International baseball tournaments and Major League Baseball

Tokyo Dome has been chosen as one of the baseball stadiums to hold international baseball tournaments since 2000s. The Tokyo Dome has been selected to host all five World Baseball Classics through 2023. It was also selected to host the finals of the WBSC Premier 12, which was held twice.

The Tokyo Dome has held various Major League Baseball games to open the seasons, with the first series—a two-game slate between the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets in 2000—being the first time American MLB teams have played regular season games in Asia. Four years later, the New York Yankees, featuring former Yomiuri Giants slugger/outfielder Hideki Matsui in their lineup, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays played two games in the stadium to start the 2004 season. The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics opened the 2008 MLB season in Japan, and also competed against Japanese teams.[20][21] To open the 2012 season the Seattle Mariners and the Athletics, the former of which had Ichiro Suzuki, played a two-game series on March 28–29. In game one Seattle – led by Ichiro's 4 hits – won 3–1 in 11 innings.[22] The Mariners and Athletics returned to the Tokyo Dome for a two-game series to begin the 2019 Major League Baseball season, with Ichiro retiring from professional baseball after the second game.[23][24]

Date Winning Team Result Losing Team Attendance
March 29, 2000Chicago Cubs5–3New York Mets55,000
March 30, 2000New York Mets5–1Chicago Cubs55,000
March 30, 2004Tampa Bay Devil Rays8–3New York Yankees55,000
March 31, 2004New York Yankees12–1Tampa Bay Devil Rays55,000
March 25, 2008Boston Red Sox6–5Oakland Athletics44,628
March 26, 2008Oakland Athletics5–1Boston Red Sox44,735
March 28, 2012Seattle Mariners3–1Oakland Athletics44,227
March 29, 2012Oakland Athletics4–1Seattle Mariners43,391
March 20, 2019Seattle Mariners9–7Oakland Athletics45,787
March 21, 2019Seattle Mariners5–4Oakland Athletics46,451

Concerts

The Tokyo Dome Corporation publishes a list of singers and music groups that have performed since its opening in 1988. The Alfee held its first concert at Tokyo Dome on March 19, 1988, and March 20, two days after the dome opened. On March 22, 1988, and March 23, Mick Jagger became the first non-Japanese to perform at the Tokyo Dome.[25]

Concerts have been held at the Tokyo Dome for several dozen days each year since its opening, mainly by Japanese singers and music groups. According to official statistics from its opening in 1988 to May 2023, KinKi Kids held the most solo concerts at Tokyo Dome for 64 days, followed by Arashi for 58 days and Kanjani Eight for 41 days. All of them were male idol groups from Johnny & Associates. Among non-Japanese, The Rolling Stones and TVXQ held the most solo concerts for 28 days, followed by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney for 21 days.[25]

Guns N' Roses performed there on February 19, 20 and 22 1992 and January 12, 14 and 15 1993 during their Use Your Illusion Tour, then again on December 19, 2009 during their Chinese Democracy tour.

Madonna played 5 shows on 13,14,16,17 and 19 December 1993 which concluded her tour The Girlie Show. she also held 2 concerts on 20 and 21 September 2006 as part of Confessions Tour.

Mariah Carey performed there for the first time on her Daydream World Tour, on the 7, 10 and 14 of March in 1996, bringing in a total of 150,000 people with the 3 dates, she obtained the record for best-selling tickets in less than 1 hour. In 1998, the singer returned to Japan on her Butterfly World Tour, where she broke her old record, this time selling out 200,000 tickets in less than 1 hour, there were 4 shows, on January 11, 14, 17 and 20. She would return to the stadium in 2000 with her Rainbow World Tour, but due to scheduling problems the shows were moved to an arena.

Taylor Swift opened her 1989 World Tour at the venue with two concerts on 5 and 6 May, 2015, and she played 2 more shows on 20 and 21 November 2018 as part of the Reputation Stadium Tour. She is set to play 4 consecutive concerts on 7-10 February 2024 for The Eras Tour.

Bruno Mars performed three concerts on October, 2022 and returned for seven more concerts on January 2024, becoming the biggest shows in Japan by an international act in the 21st century.[26]

Professional wrestling

New Japan Pro-Wrestling has held a professional wrestling event at Tokyo Dome, currently titled Wrestle Kingdom, on January 4 of each year, since 1992. The event expanded in 2020 to two nights, with the second night on January 5. The event is the biggest in Japanese professional wrestling, and has been compared to WWE's flagship U.S. event WrestleMania in terms of size and significance.[27] Other companies such as All Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling NOAH, and WWE had previously held major events in the Tokyo Dome as well.

Boxing

In boxing, Mike Tyson fought twice in Tokyo Dome — a successful undisputed title defense against Tony Tubbs in 1988, and in a loss considered to be one of the biggest upsets in sports history to James "Buster" Douglas in 1990.

Kickboxing

The final round of the K-1 World Grand Prix kickboxing tournament was held at the Tokyo Dome from 1997 to 2006.

Mixed martial arts

The Tokyo Dome hosted seven Pride FC mixed martial arts fights: Pride 1, Pride 4, Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round, Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals, Pride 17, Pride 23, and Pride Final Conflict 2003. The last event had an attendance of 67,451.

American football

As part of the American Bowl, the Tokyo Dome held 13 National Football League preseason games between 1989 and 2005.[28] In the 1996 game between the San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers, three Japanese linebackers – Takuro Abe, Shigemasa Ito, and Takahiro Ikenoue of the World League of American Football – became the first Japanese players to participate in an NFL game; Abe and Ito sporadically appeared on special teams for the Chargers, while Ikenoue was part of the Steelers' defense.[29]

Date Winning Team Result Losing Team Attendance
August 6, 1989Los Angeles Rams16–13
(OT)		San Francisco 49ers43,896
August 5, 1990Denver Broncos10–7Seattle Seahawks48,827
August 4, 1991Miami Dolphins19–17Los Angeles Raiders-
August 2, 1992Houston Oilers34–23Dallas Cowboys-
August 1, 1993New Orleans Saints28–16Philadelphia Eagles-
August 7, 1994Minnesota Vikings17–9Kansas City Chiefs49,555
August 6, 1995Denver Broncos24–10San Francisco 49ers-
July 28, 1996San Diego Chargers20–10Pittsburgh Steelers-
August 2, 1998Green Bay Packers27–24
(OT)		Kansas City Chiefs42,018
August 6, 2000Atlanta Falcons27–24Dallas Cowboys-
August 2, 2003Tampa Bay Buccaneers30–14New York Jets-
August 6, 2005Atlanta Falcons27–21Indianapolis Colts45,203

College football was played 17 straight years in Tokyo, including six years at the Tokyo Dome, through the Coca-Cola Classic. In December 1993, the Wisconsin Badgers clinched the Big Ten college football championship and a berth to their first Rose Bowl in 31 years by defeating the Michigan State Spartans 41-20 in the last Coca-Cola Classic, before nearly 52,000 at the Tokyo Dome. [30] Ironically, the game was moved from Camp Randall Stadium in Madison so the Badgers' seniors would get their opportunity to enjoy a bowl game atmosphere.

Association football

In 1993, Aston Villa played Verdy Kawasaki in a friendly match.

Monster truck rallies

In 1989, the United States Hot Rod Association hosted one of the first monster truck rallies outside North America at the Tokyo Dome.

30 years later, Monster Jam made its first appearance there.

Figure skating

In December 2022, Japanese figure skater and two-time Olympic champion, Yuzuru Hanyu, announced to hold a solo ice show named Gift at the Tokyo Dome on February 26, 2023.[31] His show marked the first time that an ice rink was set up at the multipurpose venue.[32] The show was directed in collaboration with Japanese choreographer Mikiko.[33]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 株式会社東京ドーム, Kabushiki gaisha Tōkyō Dōmu, formerly Korakuen Stadium Company, Ltd. (株式会社後楽園スタヂアム, Kabushiki gaisha Kōrakuen Sutajiumu)
  1. ↑ "東京ドームシティ｜野球情報｜施設規模". Tokyo-dome.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  2. ↑ "ヤフオクドーム大規模改修で最大収容４万人超え ４球場が大台に/デイリースポーツ online". デイリースポーツ online.
  3. ↑ "Tokyo Dome City Web Site – Architectural Features". Archived from the original on 2010-02-18. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  4. 1 2 3 "Tokyo Dome". Takenaka Corporation. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  5. ↑ 我が国の近現代建築に関わる構造資料及びその電子化継承に関する調査 令和3 度報書 (PDF) (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. March 2022. p. 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Basketball Passport - Tokyo Dome". Archived from the original on 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  7. ↑ 東京ドームの歴史(～2005年) (in Japanese). Tokyo Dome Corporation. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021.
  8. ↑ "Guides app - Lonely Planet's newest app". Touristeye.com. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  9. ↑ "Tokyo Dome". PURORESU.wiki. 1988-03-17. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  10. 1 2 Haberman, Clyde - Amid Some Doubts, a Tokyo Dome. New York Times, March 23, 1988
  11. ↑ "Tokyo Dome 'Bigg Egg'". www.tensinet.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2023.
  12. ↑ Takai, Hiroaki (2014). Planning outline and analysis of actual energy operational performance from completion to present in Japanese and foreign large domes and stadiums — Tokyo Dome, Fukuoka Dome, Odate Dome, Sapporo Dome, Kaohsiung Stadium (PDF). World Sustainable Building. ISBN 978-84-697-1815-5.
  13. ↑ Hideki, Magara (1 May 1987). "Tokyo Dome "Big Egg", Tokyo (Japan)". doi:10.5169/seals-20372. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ↑ 東京ドームが開業30周年 今や“死語”のビッグエッグ元年を振り返る (in Japanese). Sports Hochi. 3 February 2018. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022.
  15. ↑ 2022年 東京ドーム巨人戦試合日程表 (PDF) (in Japanese). Tokyo Dome Corporation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2022.
  16. ↑ 読売ジャイアンツ (in Japanese). プロ野球フリーク. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022.
  17. ↑ ヤクルト日本シリーズは神宮大会と重なり東京ドームで3～5戦戦 (in Japanese). Nikkan Sports. 13 November 2021. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021.
  18. ↑ "The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum". The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. 21 December 2020. Archived from the original on 27 May 2022.
  19. ↑ Attendance again far from sellout in Tokyo | Amarillo.com | Amarillo Globe-News
  20. ↑ "Red Sox, A's Japan-bound in 2008". Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  21. ↑ "Moss, Manny fuel comeback". Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  22. ↑ "Seattle Mariners Oakland athletics open 2012 season Tokyo" ESPN.
  23. ↑ Mike Chiari (March 21, 2019). "Legend Ichiro Suzuki Retiring After Nearly 30 Years in MLB, Japan". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  24. ↑ Johns, Greg (March 21, 2019). "Ichiro announces retirement after emotional finale". MLB.com. MLB. Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  25. 1 2 東京ドーム公演アーティスト一覧 (in Japanese). Tokyo Dome Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on 27 June 2023.
  26. ↑ Henderson, Lisa (2023-11-17). "Magnificent 7: Bruno Mars' historic Tokyo stand". IQ Magazine. Retrieved 2024-01-07.
  27. ↑ Bixenspan, David (2018-01-03). "Japan's Version Of WrestleMania Is Striving For A U.S. Audience Tonight". Deadspin. Gizmodo Media Group. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  28. ↑ Nagatsuka, Kaz (February 4, 2015). "Fans want NFL return". The Japan Times. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  29. ↑ Landers, Jack (July 29, 1996). "Three make Japanese history as first to play in NFL game". Deseret News. AP. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  30. ↑ "Go East, Young Men". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  31. ↑ Kano, Shintaro (December 7, 2022). "Hanyu Yuzuru to rock Tokyo Dome in February". International Olympic Committee. Lausanne. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022.
  32. ↑ 羽生結弦さん「贈り物を受け取りに来てください」２・２６アイスショー「ＧＩＦＴ」東京Ｄ開催サプライズ発表 [Yuzuru Hanyu "Come and Receive a Gift" Surprise announcement of ice show "GIFT" at Tokyo Dome on 2.26]. Sports Hochi (in Japanese). Minato, Tokyo. December 6, 2022. Archived from the original on December 5, 2022.
  33. ↑ "Figure skating: Yuzuru Hanyu to perform at Tokyo Dome next Feb". Kyodo News. Minato, Tokyo. December 5, 2022. Archived from the original on December 5, 2022.
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