Calif. City to Rename Ballpark ‘Ichikawa’ after Sister City in Chiba Pref.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:38 JST, July 9, 2025

ICHIKAWA, Chiba — A city in the Los Angeles area has decided to change the name of a local baseball stadium to “Ichikawa,” its sister city in Chiba Prefecture.

The mayor of Ichikawa, Ko Tanaka, received a letter from the mayor of Gardena informing him of the change. “I was surprised to receive the notice,” said Tanaka.

Gardena and Ichikawa became sister cities in November 1962, and the relationship has grown stronger since. Last fiscal year, Gardena Mayor Tasha Cerda attended a ceremony commemorating the 90th anniversary of Ichikawa’s municipal government. This fiscal year, a five-person delegation from Ichikawa, which will include Tanaka and city council chair Takashi Okubo, will visit Gardena from July 21 to 25 to celebrate the 95th anniversary of Gardena’s city government.

A delegation of 21 fifth- and sixth-grade baseball players, recruited from Ichikawa’s youth baseball teams, will also visit Gardena during this time to play a friendly match. It will be the first such trip in 30 years, or since 1996. The youths will also watch a Major League Baseball game between the Dodgers, whose roster includes Shohei Ohtani, and the Twins.

The letter from Gardena arrived in mid-June and said the Freeman Park Baseball Field, where the friendly match will be held, would be renamed Ichikawa Nippon Yakyu Field. Gardena lies about 20 kilometers south of the Dodgers’ base, and Ichikawa city officials believe that Ohtani’s success may have influenced the decision.

“I was surprised when I heard of the name change,” said the vice president of the city’s youth baseball league, who will accompany the youth team. “We’ll have to play a great game.”