Odawara Living
Sports
On the Coast, Near the Mountains and boasting great restaurants too, paradise?
Sports Sites of Interest Odawara Arena: has basketball, and at times sumo. Watch sweaty fat men fall yah! There
is also triple A level baseball played at Kamifunaka Park. It is also a
nice park to walk around in. | Tennis in the Odawara Area Pictured: Dustin Hoffman with tennis coach Kazu Inoue, and players in Hakone So you`re a swinger are ya? Well good then! Because in the Odawara-Minami Ashigara area we are blessed with many tennis courts. Ask around--ask your students and friends. Put the word out that you enjoy tennis as probably someone around you does too, and will invite you out to their tennis circle, club or company tennis court. You need an in though generally. You can`t just walk on a court like you do back home, so do put the word out and tell others of your interest in playing some tennis. One of the best places is the Odawara Tennis Garden near Hotaruda Station (Odakyu Line). It is pretty reasonable. You will need to reserve a court.You may be able to do this by phone, but you probably have to do it in person the first time or everytime. There are tennis clubs in many locations. You might want to join one if you are
pretty serious about playing a lot of tennis. They usually aren`t cheap
though and don`t make sense unless you will play at least once a week
or more. There are different tennis circles (informal clubs) listed in the club book at Odawara City Hall and the city halls of the other nearby cities and townships.You go to city hall and ask to look at the book of circles. You can ask in Japanese: "Sakuru no risto hoshin desu kedo." I did that to find soccer circles. There are many tennis circles that play every weekend and some that play on weekdays as well. Once you find one, you are swinging. That is the way things work in Japan,
you really need to network here, put the word out and get involved, and
then be sure to show up. There are a lot of tournaments here as
well especially in the fall. You can find out about them at the various
tennis clubs or perhaps at the city halls. There is an active Odawara Tennis League, perhaps one of the companies you work for has a team. Maybe you can join it! Again put the word out. Good luck!
Odawara Tennis Association: information about leagues and tournaments More about Sports in Odawara from Odawara City Hall: You will need a Japanese friend to translate this for you. Asian League Ice Hockey is our only professional Ice Hockey League Many former NHL players have played in the league including Esa Tikkanen. Each teams boasts some foreign players along with players from South Korea, China and Japan. There are always a few former NHL players finishing up their career in the AL. Some games are played in Yokohama near Shin Yokohama Station, and others in Tokyo. For tickets try: - Seven-Eleven - Family Mart - Sunkus - CircleK Nagano Cup Ice Hockey Nagano hosts an annual ice hockey tournament inviting teams from Canada and other countries. Japan is represented by the Olympic team, so it is always a fun tournament to watch. I have been twice. It is hosted in the world class, olympic stadium called the Big Hat. It is a shame. Like many sports events in Japan they don`t advertise it much. So potential viewers don`t hear about it. This tournament is usually held in late January or early February each year. Don`t expect to see any advertising about it. If you want to go, you will need to research it yourself. Odawara Hockey Association plays street and inline hockey Contact: greatpowers at yahoo.com if you want to play street hockey! They also host some hockey tournaments. Play Ice Hockey To play ice hockey, you will need to go to Tokyo or Yokohama.
The Tokyo Canadians have a long history, play in Tokyo and even win tournaments throughout Asia. They are also a fun group that holds parties and other get togethers besides just playing hockey. For more information about the team, or to see about playing with or aganst the Canadians, you can check out their website at www.tokyocanadians.com.
More about Odawara Arena Has a brand-new fully equipped weight room and the price for use is very cheap! Basicly you name the sport and you can pretty well play it here. Okay, so you can't luge! I'm very sorry about that! As mentioned above, the Odawara Arena has a great weight room as well as other facilities including basketball leagues and badminton to name a few. | Basketball Kanagawa Is for people who want to find other basketball players near them, and to find teams to play with. Tell us about your basketball tournaments and events here. If there are basketball tournaments coming up in Japan or exciting games. You can announce them here too. Be sure to visit our HOMEPAGE! BJ League Basketball is a professional basketball league with thirteen teams located throughout Japan. The league is divided into two conferences: the Eastern Conference, and the Western Conference.
Below the BJ League is the JBL or Japan Basketball League which has two divisions 1 and 2. Teams from division 2 can be promoted to division one and vice versa. The JBL used to be the premier league in Japan but is a kind of farm league or junior league to the BJ league now. There is Professional Soccer in our area! Shonan Bellmare has a team in the J-League, Japan`s premier soccer league, and they also operate an indoor soccer team. Shonan Bellmare`s indoor soccer team plays in the F-League Indoor soccer is called futsal in Japan. Shonan Bellmare plays most of their games at Odawara Arena. |
