The 2024 World Series may be over, but that won’t stop baseball fans from searching for their next ballpark fix.
But forget touring a stadium — this one lets you sleep inside it.
Es Con Field Hokkaido is a stadium on the Japanese island of Hokkaido with a grass field, retractable roof and space for 35,000 spectators. But the grand slam for fans is the stadium’s hotel, which comes with rooms overlooking the field where the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters play. The Fighters are the former team of Major League Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Opened in March 2023, the stadium is home to the Tower Eleven Hotel, which has eight themed rooms with field views, including the Clubhouse Room, which resembles the Fighters’ locker room and comes with original lockers from the Sapporo Dome, the team’s old stadium. Travelers who stay here might be storing their pajamas in the same locker that Ohtani once used. Â
Guests don’t need tickets to the game, since they can watch it from their rooms.
Not surprisingly, the rooms are tremendously popular with hardcore Japanese baseball fans. Most rooms are booked months in advance, though those who book early enough can still secure reservations. But they don’t come cheap: The Clubhouse Room starts at $719 on game days, a price easier to swing with the knowledge that it sleeps five people. Think the best buddy sleepover ever, for $144 a person.Â
Seventh inning soak
There’s another perk for hotel guests, too. They can watch live games while sitting in an onsen, or hot spring. Onsen culture is central to Japanese life, with thousands of onsens throughout Japan.
Es Con Field Hokkaido says it’s the world’s first baseball stadium with a natural onsen overlooking the field. Developers dug 4,265 feet into the ground to reach the water, according to HKS Architects, the Dallas-based company that designed the stadium. There’s a cold plunge pool too, alongside a bar where guests can order craft beer and edamame.
Guests can watch the game from a sauna which railings made from retired baseball bats.
Source: H.N.F.
Note: Traditionally, onsens are enjoyed without clothes, but bathing suits are required for the two open-air onsens at the stadium. There’s good reason for this: You may end up on the Jumbotron.
Throughout the onsen area, baseball-themed details abound. Guests hang towels from the ends of sawed-off bats, previously used by Hokkaido Fighters players. There’s also a sauna, with railings that are shaped like bats. The check-in desk encases dozens of game-used baseballs, and the area is decorated with diamond-shaped tables.
Baseballs accents abound in the hotel, including the reception desk to the onsen.
Source: Oliver Horovitz
Guests who forget their bathing suits can buy one from a vending machine (cost: $6.50), and non-hotel guests can also book an onsen, if there’s space, for $26.
Ohtani’s old team
The Hokkaido Fighters, founded 78 years ago, compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, or the NPB.
A room with a view at Es Con Field Hokkaido, a stadium built in Japan in 2023.
Source: Oliver Horovitz
The team drafted a then 18-year-old Ohtani back in 2012. He played five seasons for the Fighters, before transferring to the Los Angeles Angels in 2017. In total, the Fighters have won three Japan Series titles, most recently in 2016.
The Fighters’ schedule mirrors that of Major League Baseball, with regular season games running from March to September. Attending a game is a wonderful window into Japanese culture. Teams bow to each other when taking the field, and batters frequently bow when entering the batters’ box — to honor their opponents, the fans, and the stadium itself.
Extra innings
Fans routinely arrive at Es Con Field Hokkaido well before the first pitch to partake in pre-game festivities. The stadium has its own craft beer brewery, which is experimenting with wood-aged beer made from broken bats. (Fun fact: broken bats in Japan are often recycled into chopsticks.)
There’s also a ramen terrace, which serves ramen from five famous Japanese shops. Food events, like fried dumpling festivals, are frequently hosted on-site. For the soda-obsessed, there’s a unique seating section of the stadium called the “Coca-Cola Seats” — painted red, of course — with unlimited Coca-Cola soft drinks.
A suite at the Tower Eleven Hotel at Es Con Field Hokkaido.
Source: H.N.F.
The stadium sits within the 80-acre Hokkaido Ballpark F Village, which has an Adventure Park, children’s play area, and simulators for golf, baseball and horseback riding. There’s also an area where budding Ohtanis can field their own grounders. In the winter, the grounds transform into a snow park and ice rink.
Of the 12 hotels rooms at the Tower Eleven Hotel, eight have views of the field.
Source: Oliver Horovitz
Additional accommodations exist for fans looking for a more relaxed setting. Villas near the stadium, each with ash wood interiors and private saunas, can be booked for around $863 per night on game days. There’s also glamping at the Ballpark Takibi Terrace Allpar hotel, where guests can toast Fighters’ wins with a bonfire and barbeque overlooking the stadium.
But if all those spots are booked — or are a little too pricey for your travel budget — baseball fans can simply attend a game itself. Regular tickets start at only $7.
Correction: This article has been updated to remove an incorrect assertion about the history of the sauna’s railings that was provided by a stadium representative.
