Located on the outskirts of Osaka with a unique ambience, Koshien Stadium is the symbolic sports icon in Japan.
But it doesn't represent just baseball. It has a significant meaning here for American football and is considered the mecca of the sport, just like for baseball.
Every December, the collegiate national championship game, known as the Koshien Bowl, is played there. The Koshien Bowl, inaugurated in 1947 after the derequisition of the stadium by the U.S. armed forces, is the oldest football bowl game in the country, and the players vie to step onto the hallowed gridiron every year.