We mentioned last week going to Okinawa to visit spring training camps last month, and baseball on that island is about to get an upgrade from the completion of construction on the 30,000-seat Onoyama Stadium.
The new ballpark is the latest in a series of "Field of Dreams" baseball facilities, sparkling new major league-type stadiums put up in recent years in cities around Japan where no professional franchise is located, some in the midst of residential neighborhoods or rice paddies seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
The list includes Alpen Stadium in Toyama, Muscat Stadium in Kurashiki, Botchan Stadium in Matsuyama, Big N Stadium in Nagasaki, Sun Marine Stadium in Miyazaki, the Nagano Olympic Stadium and Komachi Stadium in Akita.