Meiji Jingu Stadium

The Meiji Jingu Stadium, locally known as Jingu Kyujo, opened in 1926 in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward and is one of the oldest professional baseball grounds still in regular use in Japan. In 1934 Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx played here as part of the All-American tour against a Japanese all-star team - one of the founding events of Japanese professional baseball. Today it is the home ground of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of the Central League, and also hosts the Tokyo Big6 University Baseball League and the national university championship. A curiosity: younger than most US classics but very old by Japanese standards, a Swallows home game has become a nostalgic must for Tokyo locals. Visitors should sing along to Tokyo Ondo and catch the fans' famous miniature umbrellas snapping open during the seventh-inning stretch.