Lemon Gas Stadium Hiratsuka
Lemon Gas Stadium (aka Lemon Gas スタジアム平塚 or 平塚競技場) is the home of J.League club Shonan Bellmare. The stadium has been sponsored by locally-based company Lemon Gas since 2021.
History & Capacity
The 15,380 capacity stadium is located within the large Hiratsuka Sogo Koen (Hiratsuka General Park).
The multi-purpose ground has a running track and also hosts athletics, rugby and other sports. The stadium is owned, operated and managed by Hiratsuka City.
Only the center of the main stand is covered with a small roof. Gate 7 at the stadium is named "7・HIDE Gate" after Hidetoshi Nakata, possibly Bellmare's most famous former player.
Shonan Bellmare
The club began life in 1989 as Towa Real Estate SC in the city of Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture becoming Fujita Kogyo SC when the parent company Fujita moved the club to Hiratsuka. Between 1977 and 1981 the club won the JSL three times and the Emperor's Cup twice.
The club became a member of the J-League in 1994 winning the Emperor's Cup in 1995 and the now defunct Asian Cup Winners' Cup in the same year.
Former players in the late 1990s included Hidetoshi Nakata, Wagner Lopes and South Korean international Hong Myung-bo. Other players of note who have represented the club include Liverpool's defensive midfielder Wataru Endo who played for the team in 2008-2010.
In 1999 Bellmare were relegated to J2 and have been something of a yo-yo club thereafter winning the J2 title in both 2014 and 2017 to return to the top flight of Japanese football for a period. The club's last major trophy was the J.League Cup in 2018.
Access - Getting There
The two nearest stations to the ground are Hiratsuka Station on the JR Tokaido Line and Isehara Station on the Odakyu Line.
Getting to the stadium is fairly straightforward from either downtown Tokyo or Yokohama.
From Shinjuku Station, take the Odakyu Line to Isehara Station and then a bus or walk to the ground. From Tokyo Station take the JR Tokaido Line to Hiratsuka Station and then a bus or walk to the ground.
From Yokohama Station take the JR Tokaido Line to Hiratsuka Station. Journey time is just over an hour.
1-1 Ohara, Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, 254-0074, Japan
Tel: 0463-33-4455
Nearby Hotels
The ground is near enough to central Tokyo or Yokohama to stay there. Tokyo has a vast range of reasonable hotel and guesthouse options.
If you do wish to stay close to the stadium itself try Hotel Livemax Hiratsuka Station or the Hotel Route Inn HiratsukaEki Kitaguchi.
Hiratsuka City Sights
Hiratsuka is known for its beach on the Pacific coast. Other attractions include the Hiratsuka Museum of Art and the ancient Hiratsuka Hachimangū shrine.
Photos by Japan-based journalist Sean Carroll - author of Between The Lines: Navigating The World of Japanese Football
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