Machida GION Stadium — Attraction in Tokyo

Prepare for Siege Warfare

The organizers call visitors castle entrants—and they mean it. This stadium is a modern-day mountain fortress. Entering it is nothing short of a siege.

Modern vehicles like cars and buses? Useless. The access roads are designed like ancient castle defenses—narrow, winding, and bottlenecked. Unless you’re ready to lose two hours in transit, don’t rely on wheels.

As many veterans advise, your best bet is to arrive by foot or bicycle.

But once you’ve conquered the gates, it’s a surprisingly rewarding experience. Despite the athletics track around the pitch, the design brings you closer to the action. Food trucks are plentiful, and—an often overlooked but vital point—your smartphone actually works. A rare treat in Japanese live venues.

One major obstacle to live sports entertainment in Japan is the misalignment between stadium operations and mass transit providers. The latter prioritize fixed schedules and safe driving over innovation and fan experience. If CyberAgent, as the operator, can solve this last-mile logistics issue, it could mark a landmark business success in Japanese sports.

Oh, and if you forget to secure parking in advance? Say goodbye to 90 minutes of football—you’ll be lucky to catch...

Great Stadium. Awesome atmosphere and a Win for the Home Game against V-Varen Nagasaki. Had a heartwarming experience as a non-Japanese speaking person when a young female staff, with her impressive English speaking skill, went out of her way to assist me with buying of tickets and merchandise, to showing me my seat for the game. Didn't managed to get the young female staff name and thank her properly. Domo Arigatou...

We attended the J League match in June 2024. Machida Zelvia vs Avispa Fukuoka. The fans from both teams were fantastic and it is a good sized stadium for JL games. Great food options around the stadium. Accessibility from central Tokyo is not super easy, but it's worth the effort and a great day...