is a famous sports

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

in Bunkyo,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan, which has hosted many notable

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

, kickboxing,

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

and Lethwei matches.

History

On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with a capacity of approximately 2,000 people. It is located inside the

Tokyo Dome City , referred to as Big Egg City before January 1, 2000, is an entertainment complex in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It also includes the world's largest roofed baseball stadium, known as Tokyo Dome (AKA "Big Egg"); an amusement park known as Tokyo Dome ...

, one of Tokyo's biggest attractions. The venue hosted the

events for the 1964 Summer Olympics. In the area of pro wrestling, it is considered the Madison Square Garden of

puroresu is the predominant style of professional wrestling that has developed in Japan. The term comes from the Japanese pronunciation of , which is shortened to puroresu. The term became popular among English-speaking fans due to Hisaharu Tanabe's ac ...

, as all of Japan's largest promotions have run some of their larger shows inside the hall, much akin to the WWF/E's monthly show at MSG in the 1980s. In March 2011, as the hall suffered structural damage under the influence of the Tōhoku earthquake, the events scheduled for the time being, including WBC triple female world title fight, were postponed or canceled. The repair work was completed on March 18. The Hall was closed until the next day, then gradually resumed a variety of events. On October 27, 2016, the hall became the chosen venue for the

International Lethwei Federation Japan International Lethwei Federation Japan, also known as ILFJ, is a Japanese Lethwei promotion company with headquarters in Tokyo. History In 2016, the ILFJ acquired a ‘’Grade-A’’ promoter licence from the Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Fede ...

. The Lethwei Grand Prix Japan 2016 was the first event of the promotion held at the venue.

Tokyo JCB Hall (''Korakuen Hall 2'')

The Tokyo JCB Hall also known ''Tokyo Dome City Hall'' is a facility for sports, fashion shows, and live concerts inside the

complex, a few minutes walk from the Korakuen Hall. It was announced that a new version of Korakuen Hall would be built in Tokyo Dome City which would act as the Korakuen Hall 2 and it would hold 2,500–3,000 people. The naming rights of the hall were purchased by

Japan Credit Bureau , formerly Japan Credit Bureau, is a credit card company based in Tokyo, Japan. It is accepted at JCB merchants, and has strategic alliances with Discover Network merchants in the United States, UnionPay merchants in China, American Express mer ...

(JCB) so it opened as JCB Hall. After the construction completed, the Tokyo Dome Corporation, which owns the original Korakuen Hall as well as the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...

, would continue to rent out the original Korakuen Hall, lowering rental prices (currently it costs 1,500,000 Yen to rent) to allowing smaller promotions to use the building on a regular basis. Although most of the sporting events take place at the Tokyo Dome, the JCB Hall is considered one of the primary spots in Tokyo Dome City for smaller scale sporting events, like

pro-wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

, Lethwei and

. The JCB Hall hosted

Miss International Japan Miss International Japan was created in 1960 in response to Japan's then-recent lack of finalists at the Miss International pageant. The current Miss International Japan is Kiko Matsuo who was crowned on November 30, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. Hist ...

. Since its completion, JCB Hall has been host of Lethwei in Japan 4, and has been rarely used for pro wrestling events after the

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (stylized as Pro Wrestling ZERO1), formerly known as Pro Wrestling Zero-One and Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (stylised in all capital letters) and often referred to simply as Zero1, is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded in 2001. ...

show in early 2008. During 2009, JCB Hall was used twice for pro wrestling, both times for a tour ending show by

Pro Wrestling Noah (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) ace Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the ...

References

External links

*
1964 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 1. Part 1. pp. 128–9. {{Authority control Venues of the 1964 Summer Olympics Indoor arenas in Japan Sports venues in Tokyo Boxing venues in Japan Olympic boxing venues Television studios Buildings and structures in Bunkyō Sports venues completed in 1962 1962 establishments in Japan