Stadiums in Japan: Expo '70 ("Banpaku") Stadium

Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture

"Banpaku" Stadium, as it is commonly known, takes its name from a Japanese abbreviation for the 1970 World Exposition, which was held in Osaka in that year. It was built in 1968, and refurbished in 1974, making it the second-oldest stadium used as a permanent home by a J.League club (Mizuho Stadium, which is still used as one of the home stadiums of Nagoya Grampus, was built in 1947). Though it is both an older facility and a multipurpose field, with running track, Banpaku is a rather charming stadium, and it has excellent stadium access compared with most J1 stadiums, with a major train station right outside the front gate.

Banpaku Stadium is architecturally rather basic, looking much like any of the dozens of other small multipurpose stadiums build across the country in the 1960s and 1970s. It has a covered home stand but the remainder of the stands are open to the sky, and built in a single tier. The running track puts the seats rather far from the pitch, though Banpaku's end zones are not quite as deep as some multipurpose facilities..

Osaka Expo '70 ("Banpaku") Stadium

Location:Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture		Capacity: 23,000
Home Team(s): Gamba Osaka		Completed: 1974

Stadium Access

As mentioned above, Banpaku Stadium has excellent stadium access, though it is a bit far from downtown Osaka. The best route from the Osaka area is to take the JR Kyoto line to Ibaraki Station. From Ibaraki Station, one can either transfer to the Hankyu railway's "Osaka Monorail" and ride it to "Banpaku Koen Higashiguchi" station, or board the bus outside the west exit of Ibaraki station. In either case, the trip takes about 15 minutes and terminates right in front of the stadium.

Click to enlarge

Ticket Prices

General admission:
Adults Y2,000; Children Y1,000
SB Zone Reserved:
Adults Y3,000; Children Y1,500
SM Zone Reserved:
Adults Y3,500; Children Y2,000
SS Zone Reserved:
Y4,000
Box seats:
Y5,500