Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Sports complex in Sendagaya, Japan
The Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium is a sports complex in Sendagaya whose main arena covers 3,220 m² and seats up to 9,308 spectators. Its 1990 rebuild by architect Fumihiko Maki gave it a faceted metal roof of angular grey panels above a band of rectangular windows, with a glass-walled entrance under a sign reading 東京体育館. Separate wings hold a 50 m pool, a sub-arena and a 200 m running track.
The facility first opened in 1956 and hosted gymnastics and water polo during the 1964 Summer Olympics. It later hosted major competitions again after significant renovation work in the late 1980s.
The arena hosts the All Japan Table Tennis Championships and the All Japan Volleyball High School Championship, and the Japan Water Polo Championships were held yearly in the 50m pool. The name is often mixed up with "Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium" (東京都体育館), though the official name is simply Tokyo Taiikukan. The site was bought by Tokyo Prefecture in 1943 from the Tokugawa family, who had owned the land for generations.
The gymnasium is a one-minute walk from Sendagaya Station on the Chūō-Sōbu Line and Kokuritsu Kyogijo Station on the Toei Oedo Line. The pool, training room and running track close an hour after last entry; weekday hours run 9:00–23:00, Saturday 9:00–22:00, Sunday and holidays 9:00–21:00.
On 2 and 3 November 1990 the arena staged two NBA regular-season games between the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz, the first such games played outside North America. In 1990 it also hosted the first All Japan Pro Wrestling card after its rebuild, where Mitsuharu Misawa unmasked as the second Tiger Mask.
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