Ballparks Around The World: Kyocera Dome

In this episode of “Ballparks Around The World” we pay attention to the Kyocera Dome, home of the Orix Buffaloes. As most episodes of this item are about ballparks in the USA and Canada (to a lesser extend), it is time to pay some attention to (another) ballpark in Japan, the third after Koshien Stadium and the Tokyo Dome.

The Kyocera Dome opened its doors in 1997, back then as home of the Kintetsu Buffaloes. This was before the 2004/2005 merger of the Buffaloes with the Orix Blue Wave. The stadium is owned by the Osaka City Dome Co., Ltd, part of the Orix Group. The construction of the ballpark costed a sloppy 49.8 billion Yen, in today’s value of the Yen, €279 million.

Next to being the home field of the Orix Buffaloes, the Kyocera Dome is also the home field of the Hanshin Tigers during the Koshien Tournament in the month of August. But since the ballpark is a multifunctional stadium, it is also suitable for other sports events and concerts. Artists like the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Paul McCartney, and David Bowie have performed at the Kyocera Dome. The ballpark can also be used for conference and exhibitions according to the customer’s needs.

The exterior of the ballpark is hypermodern. Some say the exterior looks like a UFO.

What makes this ballpark unique is the posiblilty to raise the inner roof. Built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the system consists of six concentric rings that form the interior ceiling. These rings can be raised or lowered mechanically to adjust the total volume of the stadium’s inner bowl. The primary purpose of this raisable ceiling is to alter the venue’s acoustics. By lowering the rings, the stadium could reduce reverb and create a better acoustic environment for concerts; raising them creates the immense clearance needed for baseball games or specific theatrical lighting arrays.
Furthermore, at the roof, the natural sea breeze is harnessed to aid the ventilation and rainwater is being harvested. Even though the ballpark is also used for concerts, the acoustics are terrible despite the six concentric rings, sound waves bounce wildly off the ceiling, creating harsh echoes, sound distortions, and uneven audio levels. Many touring musical acts struggle to mix clean audio inside the venue, and attendees frequently complain about hollow, muddled acoustics.

Another unique item for time the Kyocera Dome was built is the fact that the arena has a mechanized system that changes the seating and configuration to suit the event taking place.

Since the Kintetsu Buffaloes have dealt with poor attendance, and despite many concerts that are performed at the dome, it has never had a profitable year. The stadium’s original primary tenant, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, faced a staggering annual deficit of roughly 1.5 billion yen just from operating and playing out of the venue. These crushing financial losses were a major factor forcing the Kintetsu franchise to merge with the Orix BlueWave to form the modern Orix Buffaloes. While the dome remains active hosting the Orix Buffaloes, concerts, and temporary games for the Hanshin Tigers, economists frequently cite it as a classic example of the heavy, long-term financial strain caused by over-budget, publicly subsidized 1990s Japanese stadium projects. To help offset operational costs, the naming rights were sold to the electronics manufacturer Kyocera in 2006.

The ballpark can be reached very well by public transport. A five-minute walk from Dome-Mae subway station brings you to the ballpark. To give you an idea of where in Osaka the ballpark is located: about three km(a forty minute walk) west from the famous Osaka tourist trap Dotonbori.

The dimensions of the playing field of the Kyocera Dome are as follows:

Left field: 100 mtr / 328.1 ft.
Center field: 122 mtr / 400.3 ft.
Right field: 100 mtr / 328.1 ft.

The artificial turf was created by AstroCorporation, GreenFields strategic partner in Japan. The installment of the turf was realized in ten days.

Next to the normal seats, there are also luxury private seating areas (luxury suites), called Vista Rooms, located at the sixth, seventh, and eighth floors of the ballpark. The features of these Vista Rooms are: Hotel-style private rooms overlook the field or arena. Each room comes with an attached outdoor balcony area with stadium seats. Divided into nine different room types (such as A through I types) that hold between eight and thirty-two people per room. The rooms Include private climate control, monitors, sofas, and optional in-room catering. On the sixth floor, there are twelve rooms, on seventh floor thirty-three, and on the eighth floor fifty-four.