I'm in Japan for a couple of weeks and hoping to catch a few sporting events while I'm here. The baseball season is almost over, and when Seibu lost their Climax Series to Softbank in 6 games, my chance to see a playoff game disappeared as well (I had tickets to Game 7). Fortunately, there are several other leagues in full swing, including the J.League. I am more interested in visiting new venues, and as I have seen the stadiums in Tokyo, I had to look farther afield. Yokohama has teams in all 3 divisions of the J.League, with two of them playing out of the NHK Spring Mitsuzawa Stadium. The stadium naming rights are owned by Nippon Hatsujo Kabushiki-gaisha, a spring maker not related to the broadcaster NHK.
The schedule favoured a Sunday trip to see J2 team Yokohama FC, who boast Kazu Miura, still playing professionally at the age of 51. With kickoff scheduled for 2 pm, I left my apartment in Tokyo at 12:40, and arrived exactly one hour later via a subway, commuter train, and bus. Unlike New York, trains here run on time every day of the week, and you can plan a trip down to the second, so there is no time wasted waiting for a train that might not show up at all.
Upon arriving, I noticed that there were few fans outside the venue. That's because everyone was already inside. The vast majority of seats here are general admission, and if you want a good seat, you need to get there early.
Before entering, I took a quick walk around. Stadiums in Japan are usually purely functional, and this one is no different. The only feature outside is a statue of Ryōzō Hiranuma, a Yokohama native who was president of the Japanese Olympic Committee (this stadium was used in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics) as well as Mayor of Yokohama. He is depicted carrying the Olympic Torch.
I picked up a sideline GA seat for 3,000 yen. You have to specify if you want to sit in the home or away section for these seats, as fans of the opponents are not allowed to sit together. As you can see below, sky blue (HamaBlue here) dominates. I did not have anything matching, but was handed a scarf upon entering, which allowed me to fit in ever so slightly.
Above is the supporters' section behind the north goal. Below is the back stand on the east side, which is mostly general admission for home fans. As you can tell, there are few seats available as kickoff nears.
The main stand on the west side is where the more expensive reserved seats are. It is not connected to the rest of the structure, so make sure you enter by the correct gate. Note that there is no cover anywhere within the stadium, with the sun low in the sky facing the supporters section for the entire afternoon.
If you want to sit in the shade, you need to sit with the away supporters, wearing orange in the distance below beneath the only scoreboard. Just make sure to check their team colours before hand. Although the two groups sit separately, they do mingle during halftime and there is no risk of any problems cheering for the visitors.
I spent the first half in the seat above, mostly shading my eyes from the sun. At halftime, I toured a little bit, but there is not much to see. Food stands had long lines, so I did not bother to try anything. One positive aspect here is that prices are the same as you would pay outside, as Japanese teams do not exploit their fans like American clubs.
At halftime, I moved down low in the corner, which provided the views above, and allowed me to avoid starting directly at the sun.
There is no security here, which proved troubling as several snipers snuck in and took potshots at the players. Above you see one of many victims on the day. Fortunately, the snipers use disappearing bullets, and the player was soon back on his feet. Below you can see a Yokohama player who had suffered a head wound earlier in the match.
In reality, of course, the game was just very scrappy, with a lot of tough fouls. The teams are tied on points in the table, with Omiya lying 5th and Yokohama 6th, the final two positions to enter the J1 promotional playoff, so a tight match was anticipated, but there was still too much overacting at times.
The play was also pretty choppy, with little sustained possession. There were a couple of goals, with Omiya's Hiroyuki Komoto scoring on a header off a corner early in the second half, while Yokohama replied when Kengo Kitazume drove one home from the top of the box after Omiya failed to clear, leading to joyful celebrations from the home supporters (above).
With the draw (barely visible in the scoreboard above), Yokohama fell out of the top 6 as Tokyo Verdy leapfrogged them with a win. There are four weeks left in the season, so they still have a chance but should they fail to do so, this game will be one of the reasons why.
Notes
Miura was listed as a substitute but did not play.
This was my 12th J.League venue and 69th venue in Japan.
Next Up
The Bledisloe Cup is taking place in Yokohama next weekend and I will show up for that. Then there are three B.League (the league that formed when the old bj League and JBL merged) games over the final week, with two in Tokyo and another in Yokohama. Check back for exciting recaps as my trip to Japan continues.
Best,
Sean
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