Spectators Roar at Giants Town Stadium; Inaugural Game Brings Fans Closer to Action

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:31 JST, March 2, 2025

Spectators raised powerful cheers at Giants Town Stadium, the new venue of the Yomiuri Giants’ farm team, as baseball players gave a dynamic performance in a game to commemorate the inauguration of the stadium in Inagi, Tokyo, on Saturday.

The new stadium was designed to bring players and fans closer together. There are only four rows of seats for spectators on the second and third floors, and “excite seats” jutting out over the field are installed for those who want to get close to the action.

Among the many fans who gathered to watch the game between the Giants and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows was a 21-year-old woman from Sanmu, Chiba Prefecture. “The players were really close. It was like I could feel the speed of the ball after it was hit,” said the woman who watched the game from an excite seat.

A 54-year-old man from Musashi-Murayama, Tokyo, enjoyed the game from a third-floor seat. “The stadium offers a deeper feeling of closeness than the Giants Stadium [in Kawasaki],” he said. “I could even hear the players talking.”

Another major feature of the Town Stadium is a 4-meter-wide hallway that allows spectators to walk all the way around the field, and many were seen watching the game from there.

“I can walk the hallway to get close to my favorite players,” said a 35-year-old woman from Chuo Ward, Tokyo. “It’s also nice that I can watch the game from anywhere.”