Ajinomoto National Training Center

The Ajinomoto National Training Center is a national training facility where Japan's top athletes train day after day. Competitors hoping to represent Japan at the Olympics and Paralympics work up a sweat in practice halls dedicated to each sport.

It carries a company's name, but this is not an Ajinomoto factory or a research lab. It was built to improve athletes' competitive performance.

It sits in Nishigaoka, Kita Ward, Tokyo. Several large, gymnasium-like buildings stand together in one corner of a quiet residential neighborhood. Right next door is the Japan Institute of Sports Sciences, which studies sports medicine and science, and a connecting corridor links the two facilities.

This whole area is known collectively as the High Performance Sport Center, or HPSC for short. At its core is NTC West, the first building to open. In 2019, a newer building, NTC East, was added.

History and the Origin of the Name

It opened in January 2008. With the Beijing Olympics set for that summer, it was developed to support athletes competing on the world stage. The aim was to raise Japan's best athletes to a level that could win internationally. It is run by the Japan Sport Council, a national agency that carries out the country's sports policy and goes by the abbreviation JSC.

The following year, in 2009, Ajinomoto Co., Inc. acquired the naming rights, and that is where the current name comes from. It was the first time in Japan that a company name had been attached to a state-owned facility. The contract has been renewed in the years since, and as of 2026 the same name is still in use. In September 2019, the new NTC East building opened. Its stated policy is to train Olympic and Paralympic athletes together on equal terms in one facility.

Facilities

Inside, dedicated practice areas for each sport are laid out across separate floors, with spaces for gymnastics, volleyball, badminton, handball, basketball, judo, table tennis, boxing, weightlifting, and wrestling.

It has a full set of spaces for indoor sports. Every practice area has cameras on the ceiling and walls, so an athlete's movements can be analyzed on video right there. The volleyball area holds two courts laid with international-standard flooring. The catwalk, a walkway up near the ceiling, is fitted with cameras too, so blocking formations can be checked from above.

Indoor practice areas are not all it offers. There is also a covered track-and-field training area and indoor tennis courts. The lodging building, Athlete Village, is large enough to hold up to 448 people. The athletes' cafeteria keeps a registered dietitian on site, supporting their conditioning through what they eat. Training, sleep, and meals can all be handled without leaving the grounds.

How to Visit

This is a place where active athletes throw themselves into training. At its core, NTC West is a closed building, used only by athletes and staff. The one way to see inside is the guided tour of NTC East. Tours run three times a day, with Tuesdays off. Admission is 1,000 yen for adults, 500 yen for junior and senior high school students, and free for elementary schoolers and younger. Reservations must be made at least three days in advance, and photography is not allowed in the practice areas. The tour is offered in Japanese only. The prices and conditions given here are as of July 2026.

Even if you can't get inside the buildings, there is still a way to take in the sporting atmosphere. Right next door stands Ajinomoto Field Nishigaoka, a stadium dedicated to soccer. It hosts events such as college soccer and the qualifying rounds for the Emperor's Cup, a nationwide tournament. On match days, anyone can watch from the stands. Getting there takes about a ten-minute walk from Motohasunuma Station on the Toei Mita subway line. You can also catch a bus from JR Akabane Station. There is no public parking, so heading over by train is the safe choice.

A Sacred Site for Haikyu!! Fans

If you know the volleyball manga Haikyu!!, this place may look a little different to you. In the story, Tobio Kageyama of the main team is invited to an All-Japan youth training camp held in Tokyo. That camp comes up around volume 24 of the manga, and in the anime it falls early in the fourth season, Haikyu!! To the Top.

Fans say that the model for the camp's venue is this facility. It has not been officially confirmed, but some people still come on a seichi junrei, an anime pilgrimage, hoping to catch a glimpse of the building from outside.

The real NTC also develops the next generation of national-team athletes and nurtures junior players. With dedicated volleyball courts of its own, it is a training facility at the national-team level as well.

This remains a closed facility still used by active athletes, set in a quiet residential neighborhood. The best approach is to view it quietly from the outside and leave it at that.