On September 20, JAL unveiled the JAPAN AIRLINES TERRACE SUITE at the preseason match between Albark Tokyo and Nagasaki Verka at the Toyota Arena Tokyo (1-3-1 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo), and visitors were able to experience watching the game from its private room.
The Toyota Arena Tokyo is the new home arena of the B-League basketball team Albark Tokyo, and has a capacity of 10,000 (8,000 for music concerts). The opening games will be held on October 3 and 5, and a concert by Official Mustache Man-dism is scheduled for October 11-12. This pre-season match was also meant to be a test run for the tangible audience in preparation for the actual operation.
The JAPAN AIRLINES TERRACE SUITE, created in partnership with JAL and Visa, offers a total of six different types of private rooms with terraces, featuring a distance of 18 meters to the court. The capacity is for 12 to 15 persons, and the rates are 800,000 yen or 250,000 miles per match (room for 12 persons) and 1,000,000 yen or 300,000 miles per match (room for 15 persons).
The private rooms are named “ALVALK,” “BOTANICAL,” “NEO,” “OEDO,” “NIGHT,” and “BAY,” each with a different concept, and the one we used this time was OEDO. The walls of the private room, which is inspired by “Edo Tokyo,” are covered with Kabuki inspired art. The terrace seats have a Japanese taste with tatami mats and cushions.
When actually sitting on the terrace seats, the distance to the court gives the impression of being closer than the numbers, at a level where one can even read the players’ fingertips and facial expressions. Compared to the Yoyogi Daiichi Gymnasium, the former home of Albark Tokyo, the Toyota Arena Tokyo actually fits completely into the space up to the arena, so the front row of the stand seats at Yoyogi Daiichi and the last row of the stand at the Toyota Arena Tokyo are the same horizontal distance to the court. The front rows of the stand seats at Yoyogi Daiichi and the last rows of the stand seats at Toyota Arena Tokyo are the same horizontal distance to the court.
Interviewed, Kunihiko Hayashi, president of Toyota Albark Tokyo, emphasized that this sense of distance was the most important aspect of the new arena’s construction.
Although Yoyogi Daiichi had been renovated for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it was a very old facility built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in the first place, and faced various problems such as narrow concourses, few eating and drinking establishments, and no place to eat other than the seats even if food and drinks were purchased, and those seats were also narrow. The concourse was narrow, there were few restaurants, there was no place to eat other than the seats even after purchasing food and drinks, and the seats were also too small.
About half of the Toyota Arena Tokyo facility is a hospitality area, which enhances fan satisfaction through both the realism of the games and the food and beverage facilities.
President Hayashi mentioned that the team has been away from titles for a while after winning the B-League championship and consecutive championships from 2017 to 2019, and he is determined to win the league championship this year, and the Emperor’s Cup and East Asia Super League triple crown.
By the way, the game unfolded dramatically, with Albark Tokyo, which at one point was nearly double-scored in the first and second quarters, catching up in the third quarter and winning the game in the fourth quarter. Even though it was a preseason match, this was a memorable day for the team as it was their first win in the new arena.
© Source travel watch
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