{"id":4419,"date":"2026-07-12T23:56:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T14:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/?post_type=news&p=4419"},"modified":"2026-10-14T00:59:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T15:59:46","slug":"kitazawa-rusutsu-pickleball","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/kitazawa-rusutsu-pickleball\/","title":{"rendered":"Tsuyoshi Kitazawa plays both sports at Rusutsu: a former Japan international's blueprint for growing pickleball"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rusutsu Resort in Rusutsu, Hokkaido, held a soccer clinic and pickleball taster session on June 27, 2026, with former Japan international Tsuyoshi Kitazawa as guest. The venue wasRusutsu's eight dedicated courts, which opened in late April as Hokkaido's first courts officially approved by the Pickleball Japan Federation<\/a>, and the session was open to 36 local children in grades 3 through 6. A day in which a well-known soccer figure stands on the court and teaches children an old sport and a new one back to back offers one practical answer to the question of how to root pickleball in Japan. What facility operators and anyone hunting for sponsors should look at is the structure: who was put where, and with whose corporate money.<\/p>\n\n

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Two hours in which a former international taught soccer and a new sport back to back<\/h2>\n

The session ran from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. that day. Check-in opened at 2:30 p.m. at the activity desk on the second floor of the Rusutsu Resort Hotel North Wing, and the fee was 2,000 yen per person including tax. The program strung Kitazawa's soccer coaching and a pickleball taster session together in one flow, aiming to send the children home with the fun of moving and the feel of working as a team.<\/p>\n

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Why a paving company backs a taster session<\/h2>\n

Special sponsors for the event were Toa Road Construction Co. and the Pickleball Japan Federation (PJ), a general incorporated foundation. Toa Road Construction is a major independent road paving contractor listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market (securities code 1882) and the largest maker of asphalt emulsion in Japan. It also designs and builds landscaping and sports facilities, and expects full-year sales on the order of 127 billion yen. The answer to why a paving company puts its name on an event for elementary school children lies in the courts themselves.<\/p>\n

Toa Road Construction laid Rusutsu's eight courts and used Pickle Colortex, the surface color material it developed in-house for outdoor courts. The product comes in three standard colors, red, blue and green, with custom colors available, and the company signed a sponsorship deal with the Pickleball Japan Federation in December 2024. In other words, the company that lays the courts is investing in the spread of the sport itself. Participation in Japan isestimated at around 330,000, with a potential audience of 11.89 million, as this site has reported<\/a>\u2014 an early market in which every new court widens the chance of a construction order. For a paving company, supporting the sport's growth is both a contribution to society and the most logical advance investment it could make.<\/p>\n

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The taster session at a glance<\/h2>\n
Item<\/th>Details<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Name<\/td>Soccer clinic and pickleball taster session<\/td><\/tr>
Date and time<\/td>Saturday, June 27, 2026, 15:00-17:00 (check-in from 14:30)<\/td><\/tr>
Venues<\/td>Rusutsu Resort pickleball courts, 8 courts (Rusutsu Arena in bad weather)<\/td><\/tr>
Guest<\/td>Tsuyoshi Kitazawa (former Japan soccer international)<\/td><\/tr>
Eligibility and capacity<\/td>Elementary school grades 3-6 \/ 36 places<\/td><\/tr>
Entry Fee<\/td>2,000 yen (tax included)<\/td><\/tr>
Special sponsors<\/td>Toa Road Construction, Pickleball Japan Federation (PJ)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n

What each side gets out of it<\/h2>\n

Everyone who gathered for this one session was after a different piece of fruit.<\/p>\n