Tokyo Dome

Location	3, Koraku 1-chome, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
Coordinates	35°42′20.37″N 139°45′6.89″E / 35.7056583°N 139.7519139°E / 35.7056583; 139.7519139Coordinates: 35°42′20.37″N 139°45′6.89″E / 35.7056583°N 139.7519139°E / 35.7056583; 139.7519139
Opened	March 17, 1988
Owner	Tokyo Dome Corporation
Capacity	Officially 55,000 seats, real capacity 42,000 seats
Field dimensions	Facility Capacity Area[1] Site: 112,456 sq m (1.21 million sq ft) Building: 46,755 sq m (503,267 sq ft) Field: 13,000 sq m (139,931 sq ft) Right, Left: 100 m (328.1 ft) Center: 122 m (400.3 ft) Capacity: 1,240,000 cubic m (43.78 million cubic ft)
Tenants
Yomiuri Giants (NPB (Central League)) (1988–present) Nippon Ham Fighters (NPB (Pacific League)) (1988–2004)

Tokyo Dome (東京ドーム Tōkyō Dōmu, TYO: 9681) is a 55,000-seat ^[1] stadium (actual capacity: 42,000 seats) located in Bunkyo Ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is the home field of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team, and has also hosted basketball, American football and association football games, as well as puroresu (pro-wrestling) matches, mixed martial arts events, K-1 Kickboxing events, monster truck races, and music concerts. It is also the location of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame which chronicles the history of baseball in Japan. Its dome-shaped roof is an air-supported structure, a flexible membrane held up by slightly pressurizing the inside of the stadium.

Tokyo Dome's original nickname was "The Big Egg", with some calling it the "Tokyo Egg Dome". However, the nickname gradually fell from use as the years went on, and is nowadays rarely heard. It opened for business on March 17, 1988 and was built close to the site of its predecessor, Kōrakuen Stadium. Like Kōrakuen, the Dome hosts the Toei Superheroes live shows of the year.

[edit] Tokyo Dome City

Tokyo Dome is part of a greater entertainment complex known as Tokyo Dome City. 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.

[edit] Notable performances

Tokyo Dome is the largest concert hall in Japan. The first live performance inside the Tokyo Dome was by The Alfee (with a marching band) on March 19, 1988.^[2]

In August 2008, KAT-TUN broke the record for the longest consecutive days of concerts, when they performed at the stadium for four days in a row. Less than a year later, they broke their own record with concerts in eight days in a row from May 15, 2009, as they sold all tickets immediately.

On July 10 & 11 2009, Simon & Garfunkel performed two sold-out concerts, playing more than twenty five songs each night.

The Dome hosted an annual college football game known as the Coca-Cola Bowl from 1988 to 1993; perhaps the most famous of these games saw Houston Cougars quarterback David Klingler pass for a record 716 yards to lead the 11th-ranked Cougars to a 62-45 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils on December 1, 1990.

Tokyo Dome has hosted the two-day X-Trail Jam snowboarding competition seven times since February 2001.

The Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets played a pair of games here to open the 2000 season, the first time American Major League Baseball teams have played regular season games in Asia. The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays played two games there in March of 2004 to open that season. The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics opened the 2008 MLB season in Japan as well. These teams also competed against Japanese teams.^[3] The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 6–5 in extra innings in the first game.^[4]

In August 2005, the Atlanta Falcons beat the Indianapolis Colts 27–20 in the first NFL preseason game of the year in the stadium.

The Tokyo Dome has hosted several championship prize fights, including the heavyweight boxing championship fight on February 10, 1990, where Mike Tyson lost the championship to 42–1 shot James "Buster" Douglas by a tenth-round knockout.

In 1997, mixed martial arts organization PRIDE Fighting Championships held its first event in the dome and attracted 47,000 fans.

Before the team moved to Hokkaido in 2004, the Nippon Ham Fighters also used Tokyo Dome as home ground, and continued to use the dome for several regular season games every season, including inter-league games.

New Japan Pro Wrestling holds an annual Tokyo Dome event on January 4, attracting record crowds. It was the most anticipated puroresu event of the year.

Under the ground rule set up by the dome, any ball that which or is trapped by the hanging items in outfield area's roof will be ruled as home runs. Hitting any other part of the roof will be considered as in-play. In addition, prize money will be given out if any home run hits the advertisement boards in the scoreboard.

[edit] In popular culture

In their song, "The Sounder", the virtual band Gorillaz makes a reference to the Tokyo Dome, saying: "Gorillaz rock the dome just like the one in Tokyo."

[edit] Gallery

Baseball at the Tokyo Dome

The Tokyo Dome and the amusement park Tokyo Dome City Attractions. (2003 photo).

Tokyo Dome and its attached amusement park occupies the grounds of the former Kōrakuen stadium and baseball park. The vegetation on the left is Koishikawa Korakuen Garden, a historic site. (1974 photo).

[edit] See also

• Thin-shell structure
• List of thin shell structures

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tokyo Dome

• Tokyo Dome official website
• Tokyo Dome War Monument