Stadiums in Japan: Tochigi Green Park Stadium

Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture

Considering the large number of J.League teams who play their matches in nondescript, featureless and sterile multipurpose stadiums -- some of them equipped to handle only 13-15,000 fans -- it is a crying shame that beautiful facilities such as Tochigi Green Stadium continue to go underused. This stadium is definitely one of Japan's "unknown jewels", like Matsumoto Stadium and Tosu Stadium, which richly deserve to be inhabited by a top-level club.

Tochigi Stadium is a football-only facility, that can seat well over 18,000 (in fact, probably over 20,000 if there were a need. Although only a portion of the main stand is covered, the unique shape and arrangement of the roof makes this an architecturally pleasing venue as well as an efficient one. There is a smaller back stand, but ringing the field in both end zones and much of the "back stand" area is a grassy bank of earth, landscaped in layers to provide a flat surface to sit, even in the middle of the slope. It makes a marvellous site for a picnic on sunny afternoons. If the reader ever has the opportunity to take in a match at Tochigi Green Stadium, it is an experience that is not to be missed. Access Map

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