Photos: 掬茶 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (1, 2, 3) · YonkamaTerminal · CC BY-SA 4.0 · inunami · CC BY 2.0
Hanshin Koshien Stadium (1924) is the only venue of the national spring and summer high-school baseball championships, which have defined the place in Japanese life for a century. The Koshien Rekishikan museum runs guided stadium tours.
Why it's unique
Koshien is the only venue for both national high-school baseball championships, and has been for a century; there is no other stadium that plays this role in Japanese life.
The guided tour takes you into it, and in August you can watch a tournament game, which is the reason the place matters, not the building.
Before you go
The famous ritual is losing players scooping infield soil into bags; visitors may not take soil, and the museum's own FAQ says so.
Book the tour online, because walk-ups get only leftover places. If you can go in August, watch a tournament game: the atmosphere is the reason the place matters, not the building.
