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Where We Play
We have a few spots around town where we play. This page only shows where each of them is and says a little bit about them. For you to know which one we are playing at in any given week, you have to read the weekly TSHA Report.
Here we provide Google Maps to each of our locations. Unfortunately, Google Maps only does maps in Japan in Japanese. Some of the major landmarks, like train station names are in English. If you don't happen to speak Japanese, that could be a bit of a hassle. On the other hand, you can use it as an excuse to chat up an attractive Japanese person of your choosing.
Asakusa
A tennis court surface without any nets. It's an awesome surface to play on, and we have no idea why such a perfect hockey place was built. But we're not complaining. It's currently our favoured place for playing hockey. Sometimes we have to play half the court because evil tennis players practise against the wall on one side. But we're cool with that. Often we get to play over the full court.
You might find this downloadable and printable PDF file handy. It's got a series of pictures that show the way from Asakusa station to the playing area from the pedestrian point of view. It's kind of like Google Maps, but on paper.
See this map on the Google Maps web site
Amazing Square
Amazing Square is a sports centre with futsal fields and other stuff, and, most importantly, the roller hockey rink where we play Wednesday nights , some tournaments, and The Yamato Cup.
See this map on the Google Maps web site
Misery Park
It's called "Okubo Park", but we like to call it "Misery Park", after this Japan Times Article about it.
Please check out the map below for how to get there from Shinjuku station. The red line starts at the bottom of the map at an exit of Shinjuku station across from a place called "Studio Alta". It's right outside the north end of Shinjuku station. It's a famous meeting place for people, and there's a huge TV screen that everyone gathers under. From there, it's mostly straight.
If you get lost, ask around for "Okubo Byoin" (Okubo Hospital". The hospital is right beside where we'll be playing (Convenient!), to the south of the playing area. So if you can find that, you can find us.
If you didn't already know, Kabukicho is probably the seediest red light district in Japan. That means you'll be walking by "massage" parlors, stepping over homeless people, and seeing lots of hookers, yakuza, and other local colour. Awesome!
See this map on the Google Maps web site
Komazawa Koen
We played in Komazawa for about ten years, but then the park authorities decided to ban all sports there, forcing us to look for new places to play. Which turned out to be not so bad because we found better surfaces to play on in Shinjuku and Asakusa. However, Komazawa Koen ("Koen" means "park" by the way) is still dear to us, as we spent a long time there and most people who played with us will have their memories associated with our spot beside the stairs.