DPC KOBE, an indoor facility in Nagata Ward, Kobe, announced on July 22, 2026 that it was taking entries for open play slots in the second half of July. You can sign up alone, come and go freely within the time you booked, and pair up on the spot with whoever is there to keep doubles games turning over. Capacity is 16 on a first-come basis, using two courts. It is run by ITC, a tennis school company founded in 1982. You cannot start until four of you are together: to that narrow entrance racket sports in Japan have carried for so long, a company whose main business is tennis has put forward a different answer.
Solo entry welcome, come and go as you like, pairs formed on the spot
What was announced is not a lesson but a slot dedicated to keeping games running, calledOpen play. Levels come in three bands: beginner (starting to enter matches), upper-intermediate (able to enter matches and win) and level-free (open to anyone). Slots are placed on weekdays and at weekends alike, and the release describes the aim as letting people enjoy pickleball at their own pace on weekdays and weekends both.
料金は所要時間で2段階に分かれる。60分枠が会員制度「DPC Plus」向け110円、一般1,100円。90～120分枠が会員210円、一般2,200円である。会員料金には「NIGHTは￥0です」という注記が付く。NIGHTはDPC Plusの登録区分の一つで、月～木の16時からラストまでを指す。登録した区分以外の時間に入ると会員でもビジター料金になるため、0円になるのは「夜なら会員は誰でも」ではなく「NIGHTで登録した会員が、その時間帯に来たとき」に限られる。申し込みは公式サイトのメンバーシップページ経由。リリースは体験会・練習会のコーチング体制として、福井宏光（Playmaking Director）以下、佐藤匠洋、後藤由希、村川允彦、竹山世成の各氏の名前を挙げている。
Two tennis courts rebuilt into five dedicated courts
DPC KOBEは2025年7月、ITC神戸インドアテニススクールの内部に生まれた。米フロリダ発のラケットスポーツブランドDIADEMとITCの独占パートナー契約による拠点だ。業界誌『Fitness Business』の事例研究によれば、改修されたのは既存のテニスコート2面。そこに、施設が公表するインドアピックルボール専用コート5面が入っている。テニス1面はピックルボール2～3面に割れる。同じ床面積から取れる同時プレー人数が倍以上になる、という算術がこの改修の出発点にある。
ITC is capitalized at 25 million yen with 69 full-time and 215 associate staff, and runs 18 facilities across five prefectures: Hyogo, Kyoto, Nara, Ehime and Saitama. It has kept the vessel of its existing tennis school business while swapping part of it for a new sport. In April 2026 it launched the DPC Plus membership, shifting its weight from one-off event turnout to continued use by members.
110 yen against 1,100 yen: what a tenfold gap says about the membership design
What stands out in this facility's price list is that the gap between member and non-member goes past anything that could be called a discount.
| Slot | DPC Plus member | General | 差 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open play, 60 minutes | 110 yen | 1,100 yen | 10x |
| オープンプレー90～120分 | 210円 | 2,200 yen | About 10 times |
At 110 yen, a session costs no more than a can of soft drink. The intent to raise how often members show up is easy to read here. The membership fees on the receiving side are published. On top of an 11,000 yen joining fee and a 5,500 yen annual fee, the monthly fee is 11,000 yen for a plan covering one time band, 19,800 yen for two and 26,400 yen for every band. Per-visit charges are pushed as low as they will go and the revenue is collected through membership. It is the monthly-fee model fitness clubs have used for years, carried into a racket sport that had always assumed court bookings. The 1,100 yen non-member rate sits opposite it as the price of a trial hit before joining. The tenfold gap is a price list and a path into membership at the same time.
Operator, brand and survey data all point the same way
On the motive for entering, Fitness Business quotes ITC president Kuniko Nakamura as saying that the tennis school business no longer has the momentum it once had. The junior segment is singled out as the weakest, with a falling birth rate and families narrowing down after-school activities, leaving cram schools and swimming to take priority. Rather than retreating, the company chose pickleball as a way to change what its existing assets are used for.
Brands are not sitting still either. DIADEM's Japanese site announced the start of the DPC KOBE membership on its own blog, going beyond selling equipment into signing up members at a permanent venue.
Market data points the same way. An online survey of roughly 30,000 people run by Pickleball One Inc. in March 2026 put the domestic playing population at about 330,000 (about 45,000 a year earlier) and the pool of interested non-players at about 11.89 million. Awareness sits at only 13.1%, while interest among tennis players reaches 72.5% (72.5% of tennis players interested, and the 36x headroom in a 330,000-player market). By that arithmetic, the most responsive prospects are already sitting on tennis school membership rolls.
施設側の自信もうかがえる。DPC KOBEは2026年7月25～26日に開設1周年フェスを組み、全米タイトル9冠のDIADEM契約プロ、Daniel Moore氏を招いた（A 9-Time US National Champion Pro Comes to Kobe. An Era When Permanent Regional Courts Draw Pros). Everyday open play and a once-a-year draw event share the same month.
The dividing line in Japan is whether you can show up alone
Starting a racket sport in Japan usually means gathering people first. Courts are booked in blocks of four, and joining a circle takes an introduction. Having to find partners of a similar level yourself has been the barrier before you even begin. Open play reverses that order. Instead of assembling players and then booking a court, you go to the court and the players are there.
The cap of 16 players across two courts is also the density that makes the format work. At eight per court, four people wait while a doubles match runs. Because players come and go freely, the number actually present stays below the cap and waits stay short. A venue with five courts giving open play only two is keeping the other three for rentals and lessons while holding up the density of the game slot. More space open is not automatically better.
もう一つ効いているのが、指導ではなく場の運営に寄せた構造だ。公式サイトはオープンプレイについて、常駐するコーチやスタッフがサポートすると説明している。人が付かないわけではない。ただしレッスンのように1人のコーチが数名を見る形ではないため、売上がコーチの人数と持ち時間に縛られない。ゲームを回す枠は費用が会場側に寄り、空き時間の在庫消化に向く。月～木のNIGHT区分に限って会員0円と踏み込めるのも、その時間帯の稼働を会員の来場頻度で埋める判断があるからだ。
That is where the lesson sits for operators without a venue of their own. What is needed is not a new court but a way to resell empty slots at an existing gymnasium or tennis court as a game slot that solo players can join. The wording of the level bands, the ratio of players to courts, how freely people may come and go. What DPC KOBE has made public is a blueprint detailed enough to try as it stands.
How much conversion capacity 18 tennis school sites hold
The same idea is already moving elsewhere. Noah, a major tennis school operator, went after a new audience with a venue combining pickleball and a sauna (Tennis operator Noah takes on a new market built from pickleball and sauna). Companies that own courts are reworking what those courts are for and stepping into a different market.
For ITC, those 18 sites are the inventory for rolling this out. If Kobe shows a clear link between membership and utilization, moving the same slot to the Kyoto or Nara sites is not a hard call. DPC KOBE's first year reads less like a single-venue experiment than a trial run aimed at deployment across several sites.
The effect on the sport itself is not small either. The gap between 330,000 players and 11.89 million interested people is explained less by the number of courts than by the number of ways in. One slot you can attend alone added at each school around the country would widen the reach faster than new venues can be built.
Guide to joining open play at DPC KOBE
| Facility Name | DIADEM PICKLEBALL KOBE（DPC KOBE） |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-1-16 Wakamatsu-cho, Nagata-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 653-0038 (inside ITC Kobe Indoor Tennis School) |
| Phone | 078-642-2960 (as listed on the official site) |
| Courts | Five dedicated indoor pickleball courts (open play uses two) |
| Nearest station | 2 minutes' walk from JR Shin-Nagata Station (no dedicated parking) |
| Hours | 月～木 10:00～22:00／金 10:00～17:00／土 9:00～21:00／日 9:00～18:00 |
| Open play capacity | 16 players, first come first served |
| Level bands | Beginner / upper-intermediate / level-free |
| Entry Fee | 60分：会員110円・一般1,100円／90～120分：会員210円・一般2,200円。会員はNIGHT区分（月～木16時～ラスト）のオープンプレーが0円 |
| Court rental | One court for 60 minutes: 4,400 yen for non-members / 3,300 yen for members |
| Lesson | 90 minutes: 1,650 yen for members, 2,750 yen for non-members / 120 minutes: 2,200 yen for members, 3,300 yen for non-members / private 60 minutes: 8,800 yen for members, 11,000 yen for non-members |
| Rental Equipment | Rental paddle and rental shoes, 550 yen each (0 yen each for DPC Plus members) |
| Booking | Applications through the membership page on the official site |
| Operator | ITC Co., Ltd. (founded January 1982, president Kuniko Nakamura) |
For a first visit, the level-free slot is the safe choice. Paddles and shoes both rent at the 550 yen non-member rate, so you can turn up empty-handed and walk away if it does not suit you. Being free to come and go is also insurance against the awkwardness of leaving partway through.
Summary
What DPC KOBE has shown is that spreading a new sport takes more than capital spending. Two tennis courts were rebuilt into five, a 110 yen price erased the mental cost of showing up, and a ratio of 16 players to two courts keeps waits short. Any other venue could copy all three tomorrow.
If you play, start by checking whether a tennis school or gymnasium near you runs an open-play slot, searching booking sites for options that accept solo entries. If you run a venue, switch a single empty weekday-evening slot to a level-free game slot, set the ratio of players to courts at around eight to one and run it for two months. What the Kobe experiment shows is that there is still work to do before adding courts.
Source:PR TIMES (ITC Co., Ltd.)／DIADEM PICKLEBALL KOBE／ITC Co., Ltd. company information／Fitness Business／PR TIMES (Pickleball One)／DIADEM Japan
