Main Tour

Experience a taste of it all: seven of NPB’s big league ballparks, stops in six of Japan’s world-class cities, delicious Japanese food and drink, the camaraderie of fellow baseball adventurers, and so much more.

Our Main Tour has been a hallmark of international baseball travel for 20+ years, and we promise that it will be the trip of a lifetime!

Highlights include games at Japan’s two oldest ballparks – Jingu Stadium (built in 1926) and Koshien Stadium (built in 1924). Historical Jingu Stadium, home to the current NPB-champion Yakult Swallows, is always a favorite of JapanBallers . At Koshien, which is often referred to as “the Wrigley Field of Japan,” we will attend a game at the Koshien Summer High School Baseball Championship, which has been referred to as a combination of the Super Bowl (for how it captures the nation’s attention) and March Madness (for its high-pressure, single-elimination format that lends itself to epic games).

We’ll start off in Tokyo before heading south to Nagoya and then NPB’s two southernmost cities, Hiroshima and Fukuoka. In Hiroshima, we will pay our respects at the Hiroshima Peace Park. We’ll then work our way back north with two days in Osaka (the world’s second-best city for travelers – Tokyo is first – according to Condé Nast) to see the Koshien tournament and Orix Buffaloes. Then, we wrap things up with a night in Yokohama to see the BayStars play at Yokohama Stadium, home of the Tokyo Olympics baseball and softball events!

This tour may be very physically demanding for some guests due to our frequent travel and Japan’s heat and humidity in August. We will change hotels six times via sometimes long train rides. It is required that all guests must be able to carry/roll their own luggage during train transfers for about 1/3 mile (including up and down flights of stairs), and also lift their bags to the overhead space on trains. If you expect to have any difficulties with these requirements, then we recommend that you consider the Tokyo Main Tour.

As of this writing, tourists are still not permitted to enter Japan. We expect that this will change soon and that in order to enter Japan, travelers will at least need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and will probably have to present a negative Covid test, amongst other requirements. Visit the website of the US Embassy in Japan for current information.