The recent story about the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters considering the building of their own stadium on Japan's northernmost main island and move out of Sapporo Dome got me to thinking about the status of the other currently used ballparks in Japan.

Many are several decades old, and perhaps it is time for other teams and cities to evaluate the situation of their stadiums and move toward construction of something better. Japan needs more ballparks such as Mazda ZoomZoom Stadium in Hiroshima, asymmetrical and more like the newer ones in Major League Baseball.

There will be a new Jingu Stadium for the Yakult Swallows to play in Tokyo after the 2020 Olympic Games and, hopefully, the Fighters will be playing in their own facility in Sapporo by 2024, by which time Sapporo Dome will have been in use for 23 years, having opened in 2001.