Mao Rink
When I visited Japan for spring break, I was fortunate enough to meet up with a skating friend from home. I’ve known her since she was a little girl, and we were in the same Learn to Skate class together for several years. She moved to Tokyo for college and remained there post-graduation and now works for a company with a Tokyo office.
My friend requested to meet me at a train station about 30 minutes outside of Tokyo. I really appreciated this, as it gave us an opportunity to explore a non-touristy area. She took us to a popular restaurant by a shopping mall, and we happily waited to get seated. After our meal, she suggested we walk to the Mao Asada rink that was nearby.
We walked on a cherry blossom-lined street and walked up to this beautiful building. The entryway looked like this:
Gorgeous, right? Sadly, we did not make time to skate here, and I would have happily done it time-permitting. The facility had two rinks. The first one (with the blue cones in the photo) was the full-sized rink, complete with seating and a second floor balcony. The second rink was a bit smaller but had windows with views of the cherry blossoms.
Here is a short video that I took while inside the full-sized rink:
Hopefully I get to skate here next time we’re in Japan!