RKB Mainichi Broadcasting, a commercial station in Fukuoka, announced on September 18, 2026 that it will hold pickleball taster sessions with backing from Saibu Gas Holdings (Hakata, Fukuoka). The setting is the station's large regional event, RKB Colorful Fes 2026: An Autumn Festival Connecting to the Future, which draws more than 50,000 people every year. Over two days, Saturday October 10 and Sunday October 11, anyone who comes can pick up a racket. A television and radio station taking the lead in spreading the game is worth watching both for people who want more courts and playing partners nearby and for companies looking to connect with their home region through sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the announcement, the taster sessions run as a new addition to RKB Colorful Fes 2026. The venue is the RKB Colorful Community Center (the parking lot on the west side of the RKB broadcasting building). Both days start at 10:00, with sign-ups closing at 16:00. Alongside a taster court open to all ages, there is a pickleball strike-out game for small children, so families who have never touched a racket sport can join in easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Putting the program together is the RKB Pickleball Club, led by RKB announcer Ken Iguchi. Club members will play against visitors, and the announcement notes that on-air talent from the station may take part as well. A broadcaster trying the game itself and then carrying the scene on its programs and social media is reach no other taster session has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taken on its own the taster session is modest in scale, but the division of roles is what to note. The broadcaster supplies the game, a local integrated energy company covers the cost, and the vessel is an autumn festival that draws more than 50,000 people a year. With the three meshing, pickleball stops being a sport you make a trip to see and becomes a sport that was right there when you came to the festival. That chance encounter lowers the bar for a first step a great deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saibu Gas Holdings presents itself as a company rooted in the region across the group. Energy and the game have no direct link, but a healthy event that draws families fits well with building a local presence people can put a face to. Putting its name to the program as title sponsor keeps it in view beyond the two festival days, through advance publicity and broadcasts covering the event itself. The company has not made its aims public, but at the very least the game gains funding and reach behind its operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n