Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
A Pritzker Prize-winning dome that has hosted Olympics twice — and you can swim in its pool for 600 yen.
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Fumihiko Maki rebuilt this arena between 1986 and 1990 into a futuristic structure that seats 10,000. The same venue staged gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics and table tennis at 2020, hosted the first NBA regular-season games ever played outside North America (Suns vs. Jazz, 1990), and still opens its Olympic-size pool to the public on any given afternoon.
What to look for
- The futuristic structure designed by Fumihiko Maki — completed 1990, the year the NBA played its first Japan games on the floor beneath it
- The main arena's scale: 6,000 fixed seats plus 4,000 temporary, all oriented around a single competition floor with a 70-year Olympic pedigree
- The sub-arena's 50-meter, eight-lane pool with seating for 900 — open to the public for a flat fee
One minute on foot from Sendagaya Station (Chūō-Sōbu Line) or Kokuritsu Kyogijo Station (Toei Oedo Line); pool admission listed at 600 yen per 2-hour session (fees set 2006 — verify on arrival).
Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium is one of 35 sights worth the detour in Tokyo, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Tokyo pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Tokyo
- Mode Gakuen Cocoon TowerA 50-story school curved like a cocoon — white aluminum and dark-blue glass, criss-crossed by diagonal white lines — that beat 150 rival proposals and won Skyscraper of the Year.
- Tokyo SkytreeAt 634 metres, the height isn't random — 6-3-4 spells "Musashi," the ancient name for this exact corner of Tokyo.
- Tokyo TowerA third of its steel came from US tanks scrapped after the Korean War — Japan's postwar recovery, painted orange and bolted into the sky.
- National Diet LibraryBorn in 1948 as a "citadel of popular sovereignty," Japan's national library holds 12 million volumes — and anyone can walk in.
- Akihabara (Electric Town)The black market that outgrew itself and became Japan's otaku capital.
- Tokyo National MuseumOne in ten of every artwork Japan has ever officially designated a National Treasure lives here.