The 'Disneyland' of public sports parks
2006-04-24
Urayasu City Sports Park Gymnasium
There's more to Urayasu City than Disneyland. One of its best-kept secrets is a palatial indoor sports-park and swimming facility that would've impressed old Walt himself. What's more, this monument to fitness offers health-club amenities at rec-center cost.
Nestle near the northeast corner of "Tokyo" Disney Resort - in Urayasu, Chiba - is Urayasu City Sports Park Gymnasium and swimming pool. Fear not. Despite the birds-eye view of a smoldering fake volcano from its uppermost fifth floor, this sprawling facility is free from fun-land hubbub and hype. But what it does offer is virtually everything a sports center can - and more.
Likely the result of proffers and hefty taxes Disney doles to the city for keeping shop, the public - that's right, public - sports park is state of the art. It has a spacious 65-person-capacity training room loaded with treadmills, cycle and weight machines and plenty of mat space to stretch out on. Then there's an indoor gym big enough for an NBA full-court press, a table-tennis room, two large martial-arts halls carpeted in tatami and a partially indoor archery range on which to practice traditional kyudo. Add to that two children's rooms, conference space and more.
Most of that, however, is just in the northwest side of the two-winged facility. Like the erroneously implied location of Tokyo Disney, the name of the structure's southwest wing, Urayasu City Sports Park Indoor Swimming Pool (singular), is also misleading. It actually houses four pools for your aquatic pleasure. They range from a 25-m-long eight-lane pool to its rehabilitative counterpart in which to walk a circular course. Top it all off with a spacious outdoor park, kids play area and eight pro-size tennis courts and you're probably wondering, "What am I waiting for?"
Well, it can't be the cost or location. For starters, there is no hefty membership fee like with less-impressive private health clubs. To use most facilities on the gymnasium side it will only cost about 100 yen an hour; 50 yen for youngsters and 150 yen for those who are not Urayasu City residents. Using the pools, bath or sauna will run you about 510 yen for two hours.
Swimming classes, which range in age and proficiency level, cost from 1,300 to 3,700 yen. The rest of this well-staffed sports center also comes with an array of similarly priced classes and sometimes-mandatory orientations to facilitate use. From aerobics, Feldenclysis and power training to martial arts and tennis lessons. And despite being outside the big city's limits, 210 yen and 30 minutes will get you from Tokyo Station to Maihama Station (via JR East Keiyo Line) from where it can be easily reached.
Being a government operation, however, means that using many of the centers' facilities is not as easy as just walking in. Reservations are often needed. And using the swimming pools, for example, requires registration by mail. They're rarely full to capacity but when they are Urayasu residents take priority. So, it's best to call first.
For phone numbers and general info in Japanese check out: http://yoyaku.city.urayasu.chiba.jp/Facinfo/index.html.
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