Osaka Nagai Stadium

Osaka is the main urban center in the Kansai region of western Japan. Traditionally considered Japan's "second city", Osaka has always tried to maintain a local style and attitude that is slightly different from that of Tokyo. Osaka has been a center of commerce in Japan since the middle ages, and was the main commercial entrepot in the country for close to 700 years.

During the brief reign of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in the late 1500s, Osaka Castle served as the seat of political and military power in Japan. However, shortly thereafter the seat of power moved to Edo (the current Tokyo), and Osaka has maintained a "friendly rivalry" with Tokyo ever since. The city retains its commercial heritage and local flavour, as a bustling, and slightly "blue collar" metropolis. Its rivalry with Tokyo extends to sports, as well, with Kansai fans always supporting the local side rather than any team from Tokyo

Unfortunately, Osaka has always been a bit more of a baseball-oriented city. Football was slow to catch on in the area, and it still is not as popular in the Osaka area as it is in other parts of the country. Nevertheless, the city is large and diverse enough to support two football teams:　Cerezo Osaka and Gamba Osaka. Cerezo Osaka uses both stadiums in Osaka's Nagai Koen for home matches. The "official" home ground is the 47,000-seat "Yanmar" Stadium (formerly referred to as "Nagai A"), but many contests are held at the smaller, football-only Nagai "B" Stadium (now known as "Kincho Stadium"). Nagai Stadium is the oldest of the venues to be used for the World Cup, though it is misleading to call it "old", having been completed in 1996. The stadium has hosted a number of high-profile events, such as the world track & field championships, and it was a centerpiece of Osaka's unsuccessful bid to host the 2008 Olympics. Naturally, as a former track & field venue, Nagai Stadium features a running track, but the oval shape of the stadium and the arrangement of the seats provides a fairly close view of the action, when compared with some other multi-purpose stadiums.

Nagai (Yanmar) Stadium		Capacity: 45,409
Home Team: Cerezo Osaka		Completed: March 1996
Location: Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan

 

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Stadium Access Nagai stadium is easily accessible by either above-ground or subway trains. It is located midway between Tsurygaoka and Nagai stations on the JR Hanwa line, and near Nagai station on the Osaka city subway sustem's Gojosuji subway line. The stadium is just a five minute walk (or less) from all three of these stations.	Click to enlarge
	Ticket Prices General admission: Adults Y2,000; Children Y1,000 SB Zone reserved: Adults Y3,000; Children Y1,500 S Zone reserved: Adults Y3,500; Children Y1,700 SS Zone reserved: Y4,500 Special reserved: Y5,500

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