Curling fever sweeps Japan nation

Curling fever sweeps nation : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A curling boom has swept through the nation thanks to the surprising performance of the Japanese women’s team at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin. The Games squad, Team Aomori, won the national championship Sunday.

Curlplex Fuji, a curling training facility in Yamanashi Prefecture, has been inundated with applications from people who want to join the beginners course. The facility is run by Hiroshi Kobayashi, 58, who joined the NHK announcer on television during Olympic curling coverage.

Kobayashi established Curlplex Fuji in December in the mountains near Lake Yamanaka at his own expense. In the first four months, the number of inquiries at the facility was about four or five a week, but has soared since the Olympics to about 80 a day.

The introductory course is open to nonmembers for 1,000 yen an hour, although primary school students need pay only half this. The course is so popular that as many as 60 players a day want to try their hand at curling.

Regular membership requires a 15,000 yen entry fee and 30,000 yen in annual dues.

Membership at Curlplex Fuji doubled following the Olympics from 40 to 80. On Feb. 25 -26, the last weekend of the Olympics, the rink was visited by about 180 people, with and without reservations.

Kobayashi began searching for a site to build a curling rink more than 20 years ago. He settled on the current site, nestled on a mountainside, because of its proximity to Tokyo.

“This is the only place in Japan where people can curl throughout the year,” he said. “The cool temperature creates Olympic-quality ice.”

Every weekend, many people travel regularly to Curlplex Fuji not only from the Tokyo metropolitan area but also from Gifu and Aichi prefectures.

Some members belong to teams hoping to play in national tournaments or even in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

To accommodate as many applicants as possible, the rink uses one of the two lanes for regular members ans the other for visitors.

Curlplex Fuji is open from noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays. Expanded hours are being considered.

“You can curl no matter how old you are. I hope baby boomers retiring shortly will visit us and experience at the sport,” Kobayashi said.

Fumio Oikawa, a 25-year-old company employee from Shirai, Chiba Prefecture, who became a member said: “You have to use the brain as you pinpoint the location of where the stones should stop and plot the path of the opponent’s stone being pushed out. It’s fun.”

(Mar. 13, 2006)

© The Yomiuri Shimbun.