NOBOROCK Takadanobaba Bouldering GYM — Attraction in Tokyo

Updated Feb-20

• Crash Pad Issues (Serious Safety Concern): As the other comments already mentioned. The crash pads here are in terrible condition. They are so worn out that you can already feel the hard floor underneath. I’ve personally witnessed several people, including my own friends, getting injured and having to be taken away by ambulance due to these unsafe pads. Instead of replacing them properly, the gym just stacks smaller crash pads on top of the big ones. But now even those are extremely worn out. The outer shell has torn apart, exposing the inner padding, and they’ve just slapped some tape on it as a makeshift fix. It looks awful and, more importantly, feels incredibly unsafe.

• Crowded Conditions: On weekend afternoons, the gym gets extremely crowded. You might not even have space to stand, let alone climb comfortably.

• Route Updates: Routes are generally updated once a month, which is a decent frequency.

• Price: The price is affordable, so if you can tolerate the above issues, it might work for you.

• Parking: None available.

• Payment Methods: Credit cards are not accepted. It’s cash only. It’s hard to imagine why such a large gym still operates on a cash-only basis in this day and age, except perhaps to obscure financial records. Given that walls are a fixed cost, it might make it easier to misrepresent attendance...

I went there a couple of times on the weekend. Compared with the gym in Omiya, it is more spacious. The staff is equally friendly and helpful. The changing room and restrooms are clean. Regarding the bouldering, they have many problems of different difficulties starting from very basic problems, although I think that the gap between easy and difficult level is a big large at some point. However, I have experienced that in many other gyms as well, so just take it as a challenge. I recommend to go there, because it is very reasonably priced and a fun way to improve your body strength and coordination. Also, there are many experienced climbers in the gym to ask for advice or just learn by...

Very beginner-friendly setting. They set some pretty interesting problems.

In terms of facilities, they are a little bit limited as there are no warm-up area and equipment. The toilets are right across the entrance. The changing rooms are pretty good, though I'm not sure whether there is a security camera there (in the male ones at least). The gym gets quite busy, especially when there's a new set on.

You really go there for the atmosphere which, as the gym gets busy, is quite vibrant and the setting which is quite challenging...