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Kashiwa-no-Ha Stadium

Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture

Kashiwa-no-Ha Stadium upholds the tradition of ugliness and discomfort that seems to be "de rigeur" for older athletic stadiums in Japan. But it does not have the excuse of most other such stadiums, which were built before the J.League was formed. On the contrary, for the first few seasons after entering the J.League, in 1996, Kashiwa-no-ha served as Reysol's "new" stadium.

The old one, Kashiwa Hitachi-dai Stadium, was preferred for Reysol home matches against lesser opposition, due to the advantages of its football-only layout . Many fans considered the "newer" facility a step backwards. Whatever its drawbacks in terms of size and location, at least Hitachi-dai didnt have a running track separating fans from the action.

One advantage that Kashiwa-no-Ha Stadium has over Hitachi-dai is that most of the seats are covered. However, the roof design looks like something that was pieced together from left-over roofing tiles of other stadiums. The back stand looks like a cheap copy of Jubilo Stadium while the home stand looks like a disconnected piece from a half-dome, and the end-zones resemble nothing so much as a giant version of the shelters found over city bus stops. The broad running track does not manage to make the venue quite as cold and impersonal as Ichihara Stadium, but the atmosphere could only be described as dreary. On the positive side, access to the stadium is not THAT bad.

In the end, Reysol and the local authorities eventually opted to renovate Hitachi-dai, adding a second deck of seats and raising capacity to over 15,000. After that refurbishment, Kashiwa-no-ha was no longer used for J.League play.