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Il Meiji Jingu Stadiuma Japanese Meiji Jingū Yakyūjō (Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium?), is a baseball stadium located in Tokyo, Japan in the Shinjuku special ward. Opened in 1926, it is the second oldest baseball stadium in Japan, and can accommodate 37933 people.
It is dedicated primarily to baseball, and has hosted the Tokyo Yakult Swallows’ home games since 1964. Besides that, it is also home to the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League (since 1926) and the Tohto University Baseball League (since 1932).
Work on its construction began in December 1925. The opening took place less than a year later, on October 23, 1926. It is one of three still existing stadiums in which Babe Ruth played, who toured in 1934 along with others famous American players such as Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx (the other two stadiums in question are Wrigley Field in Chicago and Fenway Park in Boston).
1964 was the year the Tokyo Yakult Swallows moved from Korakuen Stadium to Meiji Jingu Stadium.
In 2019, the Meiji Jingu Gaien groups, the Japan Sports Council, Mitsui Fudosan and Itochu Corporation decided to redevelop both the Meiji Jingu Stadium and the adjacent Prince Chichibu Stadium, the latter dedicated to rugby union. rugby stadium would be built on the grounds of the secondary field (once demolished) of the current Meiji Jingu Stadium. The new baseball stadium would then be built on the site of the old rugby stadium.[1]
Meiji Jingu Stadium has often appeared in baseball manga and anime, including Ace of Diamond e Gurazeni. He is mentioned in Yoshino Genzaburō’s 1937 novel entitled And how will you live? and in the collection of short stories entitled First person singular at Haruki Murakami.[2]
