Tokyo Dome

Tokyo Dome (東京ドーム Tōkyō Dōmu?, TYO: 9681) is a 55,000-seat baseball stadium located in Bunkyo Ward of Tokyo, Japan. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened for business on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of the Velodrome, adjacent to the predecessor ballpark, Kōrakuen Stadium. Like Kōrakuen, the Dome hosts the Toei Superheroes live shows of the year.

Tokyo Dome's original nickname was "The Big Egg", with some calling it the "Tokyo Big Egg". Its dome-shaped roof is an air-supported structure, a flexible membrane held up by slightly pressurizing the inside of the stadium.

It is the home field of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team, and has also hosted music concerts, basketball, American football and association football games, as well as puroresu (pro-wrestling) matches, mixed martial arts events, kickboxing events, monster truck races, and music concerts. It is also the location of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame which chronicles the history of baseball in Japan.

In Japan the phrase, "Tokyo Dome" is sometimes used as a unit of measure for area or volume.[citation needed]

Contents
[hide]
 * 1 Tokyo Dome City
 * 2 Notable performances
 * 3 Notable events
 * 4 See also
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links

Tokyo Dome City[edit]
Main article: Tokyo Dome City

Tokyo Dome is part of a greater entertainment complex known as Tokyo Dome City, built of the grounds of the former Tokyo Koishikawa arsenal. Tokyo Dome City includes an amusement park and Tokyo Dome City Attractions (formerly Kōrakuen Grounds). This amusement park occupies the former Korakuen Stadium site and includes a roller coaster named Thunder Dolphin and a hubless Ferris wheel. The grounds also have anonsen called Spa LaQua, various shops, restaurants, video game centers, the largest JRA WINS horse race betting complex in Tokyo, and Oft Korakuen, which caters to rural horse races.

Notable performances[edit]
Tokyo Dome at night

Mariah Carey's three sold out shows at the Dome during her 1996 Daydream World Tour on March 7, 10, 14 set records when all 150,000 tickets sold in under 3 hours. She later performed at the Dome for 4 nights during her 1998 Butterfly World Tour on January 11, 14, 17, 20 and 2 nights during her 2000 Rainbow World Tour on March 7 and 9. Overall, Carey performed at the Tokyo Dome 9 sold out concerts to date.[3] She holds the record for the most number of shows performed at the venue for a female solo artist, both domestic and international. The second is Janet Jackson with a total of 8 shows. Mick Jagger was the first international act to play in the Tokyo Dome on March 22 and 23, 1988. Bon Jovi followed suit and played at the Tokyo Dome on 31 December 1988. The band has since performed total of 19 concerts at Tokyo Dome, most recently in 2010 as part of The Circle Tour. American star Janet Jackson performed at the Dome in 1990, selling out four shows in 7 minutes, creating the record for the fastest sell out in the history of Tokyo Dome.[4] Then, L'Arc~en~Ciel improved that record[3] The stadium played host to Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concert on September 27, 1988.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney performed for six nights in March 1990 during the Paul McCartney World Tour, 3 nights in November 1993 during The New World Tour, and three nights in November 2002 during the Driving Japan Tour leg of his Driving World Tour. After an 11 year absence in Japan, he performed again in the Tokyo Dome for three nights in November 2013 and another 3 nights in April 2015 during the Out There! Tour, for a total of 18 performances at the venue.

The Rolling Stones performed 10 concerts at the stadium during Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour, later they performed seven concerts during the Voodoo Lounge Tour in 1995. The band returned to Japan in 1998 to play four more concerts, part of the Bridges to Babylon Tour then again in 2003, for 2 more concerts were held at the dome during Licks Tour. After three years, the band returned in 2006 to perform two more shows at the venue as part of their A Bigger Bang Tour. They returned again in February/March 2014 to perform three more shows as part of their 14 On Fire tour.

American singer Michael Jackson was one of the highest performers at the dome, with a total of 21 concerts. The first nine of them, all sold out, on December 9, 10 & 11; 17, 18 & 19; and 24, 25 & 26, 1988, during his Bad World Tour. Four years later, Jackson returned to perform at Tokyo Dome, this time as part of his Dangerous World Tour, in eight sold-out concerts, on December 12, 14, 17, 19, 22, 24 and 30 & 31, 1992. His last four concerts took place in 1996, on December 12, 15, 17 and 20 of that year, during Michael's HIStory World Tour.

Heavy metal band X Japan has performed at Tokyo Dome many times, including: their last concert with former bassist Taiji on January 7, 1992 (On the Verge of Destruction 1992.1.7 Tokyo Dome Live) and their last concert before disbanding on December 31, 1997 (The Last Live Video). The arena also hosted their first concerts after reuniting in 2007; March 28–30, 2008.[5]

Yellow Magic Orchestra played two sold out concerts at the arena on June 10–11, 1993. This was their only two concerts since their dissolution in 1983 and would be their last until their reformation in 2007.[6]

Rain was the first Korean artist to perform at the Tokyo Dome. His concert at the Tokyo Dome on May 25, 2007 attracted nearly 45,000 people.[7]

On July 22, 2007, Kinki Kids held their 10th anniversary concert at Tokyo Dome, which drew a crowd of about 67,000 fans, making it the biggest concert ever held at the Dome. The record was previously held by Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi in 1992 when his concert drew an audience of 65,000.[8]

In July 2009, Korean group TVXQ played the last two shows of their 4th Live Tour 2009: The Secret Code at the Tokyo Dome.[9] To date, the group have held a total of 19 shows.

Rock band Luna Sea held a one night reunion concert titled "God Bless You ~One Night Dejavu~" on December 24, 2007.[10]

In December 2010, Luna Sea performed three consecutive days at the arena during their "20th Anniversary World Tour Reboot -to the New Moon-" limited reunion world tour. The first two (sold out) concerts on December 23–24 were a formal part of the tour, where they performed their popular songs as well as two new ones. The last day, December 25, was a free, black clothing only, concert titled "Lunacy Kurofuku Gentei Gig ~the Holy Night~" with an attendance of 50,000 people, chosen out of the 500,000 applicants where they played only older material.[11]

With the rising popularity of the anison genre, Nana Mizuki became the first voice actress to hold a concert at Tokyo Dome in 2011.

On May 2012, Korean group Super Junior performed at Tokyo Dome for their Super Show 4 world concert tour. It was the first time that the group performed at the Tokyo Dome. Super Junior performed at Tokyo Dome for two nights from May 12–13 part of their world tour ‘Super Show 4’ along with 110,000 fans filling up the entire venue forming their signature sapphire blue ocean.[12] Following their successful Super Show 4 during the previous year, Super Junior held their concert for their 2013 Super Show 5 world tour at Tokyo Dome. With their two-day tour on July 27–28, 2013, Super Junior was able to bring approximately 110,468 audience.[13] Super Junior again held a concert at the Tokyo Dome for their third world concert tour, Super Show 6 in October 2014. There were an estimated 112,388 fans who attended the concert.[14]

AKB48 in TOKYO DOME ~1830m no Yume~ (AKB48 in TOKYO DOME ~1830mの夢~, "AKB48 in TOKYO DOME ~The 1830m Dream") was AKB48's big summer Concert on 2012, held in Tokyo Dome. With the participation of SKE48, NMB48, HKT48 and JKT48, 3 different shows were done in the time span of 3 days, from August 24–26, 2012. Performing at Tokyo Dome was one of AKB48's dream, which they achieved after just under 7 years. This concert was also prominent member, Maeda Atsuko's graduation concert. In this concert also, all the groups were shuffled into new line-ups.

On April 2013, 2PM held the two night Legend of 2PM in Tokyo Dome concert. For most groups, it's a lengthy journey before they can perform at the famed Tokyo Dome, but they had the privilege of performing shortly before their 2nd year anniversary. (They debuted in Japan on May 2011.) All 55,000 seats for both days were sold out, making it 100,000 fans in total.[15]

The group Kara was the first Korean girl group to perform at the Tokyo Dome in 2013. The concert was a complete success; selling out all 45,000 tickets within five minutes.[16]

Girls' Generation performed their first solo concert at the Tokyo Dome on December 9, 2014. They are the second Korean girl group after Kara to perform at the Dome.[17][18]

Korean boy-band Shinee held a concert at the Tokyo Dome for the first time on March 14 and 15, 2015.[19]

Van Halen's 2015 live album Tokyo Dome Live in Concert was recorded at the Tokyo Dome on June 21, 2013.

Taylor Swift, whose most recent album won the Western Album of the Year at the 29th Japan Gold Disc Award,[20] will kick off The 1989 World Tour with two shows at Tokyo Dome on May 5 and 6, 2015. She will be the first Western female solo artist to perform at Tokyo Dome since Avril Lavigne in 2008.

Notable events[edit]
Tokyo Dome

The Dome hosted an annual college football game known as the Coca-Cola Bowl from 1988 to 1993.[citation needed]

In professional wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling has run the January 4 Dome Show, currently promoted as Wrestle Kingdom, every year since 1992. The event is the biggest in puroresu, and roughly analogous toWrestleMania in the U.S.

The Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets played a pair of games here to open the 2000 season, the first time American Major League Baseball teams have played regular season games in Asia. The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays played two games there in March of 2004 to open that season. The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics opened the 2008 MLB season in Japan as well. These teams also competed against Japanese teams.[21] The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 6–5 in extra innings in the first game.[22] To open the 2012 MLB season the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland A's played a two-game series on March 28–29. In game one Seattle led by Ichiro's 4 hits won 3-1 in 11 innings.[23]

In October 2003, the (then) Seattle SuperSonics beat the L.A. Clippers in the first pre season exhibition game of the NBA 2003-2004 season.[citation needed]

The dome hosted 12 American Bowls the last being in August 2005, when the Atlanta Falcons beat the Indianapolis Colts 27–20 in the first NFL preseason game of that season in the stadium.

The Tokyo Dome has hosted one pool of the World Baseball Classic in 2006, 2009, and 2013.[citation needed]

Tokyo Dome has hosted several championship prize fights, including the heavyweight boxing championship fight on February 11, 1990, where Mike Tyson suffered his first professional defeat by losing the title to 42–1 shot James "Buster" Douglas by a tenth-round knockout.[citation needed]

Before the team moved to Hokkaido in 2004, the Nippon Ham Fighters also used Tokyo Dome as home ground, and continued to use the dome for several regular season games every season, including inter-league games.[citation needed]