was a stadium in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan. Completed in 1937, it was originally used for

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

, and was home to the Yomiuri Giants for nearly 50 years. For various periods of time, it was also the home stadium of six other professional Japanese baseball teams, including the Mainichi Orions, the Kokutetsu Swallows, and the

Nippon Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a s ...

. Korakuen was the home of the Intercity baseball tournament for nearly 50 years. It originally hosted the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. In the 1970s and 1980s Korakuen was also used as a concert venue for superstar performers. The ballpark had a capacity of 50,000 people.

Baseball stadium

From 1936 to 1943, Korakuen was the home stadium of the Tokyo Senators (also known as Tsubasa, Taiyō, and Nishitetsu) of the

Japanese Baseball League was a professional baseball league in Japan which operated from 1936 to 1949, before reorganizing in 1950 as Nippon Professional Baseball. The league's dominant team was Tokyo Kyojin (renamed the Yomiuri Giants in 1947), which won nine league c ...

(JBL). In 1942 Korakuen Stadium played host to a memorable 28-inning, 311-pitch complete game effort by

Michio Nishizawa was a prominent Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player who excelled as both a pitcher and a position player. Playing with the Chunichi Dragons franchise for most of his career, Nishizawa became one of Japan's most beloved athletes. His nu ...

of the

Nagoya Club The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

against Taiyō. From 1936 to 1943, Korakuen was also the home stadium of the Korakuen Eagles (also known as Kurowashi and Yamato) of the JBL. Korakuen hosted Tokyo's Intercity baseball tournament from 1938 to 1987. Korakuen Stadium was the home of the Yomiuri Giants from 1938 until 1988, when the team moved next door, to the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...

, which sits on the former site of Korakuen's

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

. The Daiei Stars (also known as Gold Star and the Kinsei Stars) played their home games at Korakuen from 1946 to 1956. In 1957 the Stars merged with the Takahashi Unions to form the Daiei Unions, and the following year the Unions merged with the Mainichi Orions — which had also played their home games at Korakuen since 1950 — to form the

Daimai Orions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugura ...

. The Orions (later known as the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

) played at Korakuen through the 1962 season, when the team moved to

Tokyo Stadium , also known as Tokyo Stadium in AFC Champions League, is a multi-purpose stadium in Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. The stadium was founded at Kantō Mura, the redevelopment area formerly used by United States Forces Japan, in March 2001. It was the fi ...

. The

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

played their homes games during the 1948 season in Korakuen. The Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame first opened in 1959 next door to Korakuen Stadium. (In 1988, the museum moved to a new site within the

.) Korakuen was the home stadium of the Kokutetsu Swallows from 1950 to 1963, when the team moved to Meiji Jingu Stadium. Korakuen then became the home stadium of the

until 1987, when, like the Yomiuri Giants, the Fighters also moved to the Tokyo Dome.

American football

On August 16, 1976, Korakuen hosted the first NFL game played outside of North America, when the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

defeated the San Diego Chargers 20–10 in a preseason game before 38,000 people. Korakuen Stadium also hosted the Mirage Bowl from 1977 to 1979.

Concert venue

Korakuen was the site of the all-day "For Freedom" show, on April 4, 1978, which was the marathon farewell performance by Japanese girl group Candies. On July 23 of that same year, Pink Lady performed in front of over 100,000 fans at the stadium. Three years later on March 31, 1981, Pink Lady returned to perform their final concert at the time. On June 20–22, 1987, Madonna sold all of the 65,000 available tickets for three concerts (around 21,600 per show) on the

Who's That Girl World Tour The Who's That Girl World Tour (billed as Who's That Girl World Tour 1987) was the second concert tour by American singer and songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her 1986 third studio album '' True Blue'', as well as the 1987 soundtrack ''Who ...

in a few hours. The second night was shown on TV in Japan and was later released on VHS and LaserDisc.

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

kicked off the

Bad World Tour Bad was the first solo concert tour by American singer Michael Jackson, launched in support of his seventh studio album '' Bad'' (1987). Sponsored by Pepsi and spanning 16 months, the tour included 123 concerts for over 4.4 million fans across ...

, his first tour as a solo artist, with three sold-out concerts in September 12-13-14, 1987, at the stadium, with total attendance of 135,000. (about 35,000 per show)

Closure and demolition

Korakuen Stadium closed on November 8, 1987, and demolition began the next day, which was completed in February 1988. The former site of the right-center field area is now occupied by a high-rise, the Tokyo Dome Hotel. The remainder of the former ballpark site is a plaza for the Tokyo Dome and the hotel.

References

{{Reflist Defunct baseball venues in Japan Defunct college football venues Defunct sports venues in Japan Sports venues in Tokyo Buildings and structures in Bunkyō Sports venues completed in 1937 Sports venues demolished in 1988 1937 establishments in Japan 1988 disestablishments in Japan