■Take in a Game
In 2008, Nagoya Grampus finished 3rd last season in the 18-team top division of the J-League and gained a place in the Asian Champions League. The 2009 season kicks off in March.

If you want to savour the real atmosphere of a J-League game or AFC Champions League game get a seat behind the goal (category 5 ticket 2000 Yen for adults, 500 Yen for children aged 6+). Other seat categories are available.

Tickets available from Lawson, and with P-code 592-070 at Ticket Pia, Family Mart, Circle K, & SunKus. Tickets are also available on their website: http://nagoya-grampus.jp/game/

 The team shares their home games between the ageing Mizuho Athletic Stadium in Muzuho Ward, Nagoya, and the modern Toyota Stadium in near-by Toyota City.

Mizuho Athletic Stadium
Access: The Mizuho Athletic Stadium is a 5-minute walk from Mizuho-undojo Higashi Subway Station　瑞穂運動場東.

Toyota Stadium
Access: The Toyota Stadium is a 15-minute walk from Meitetsu Toyota-Shi Station 豊田市 (connected to the Tsurumai Subway Line) or a 17-minute walk from JR Shin-Toyota Station新豊田.

■What’s in a Name?
Nagoya Grampus Eight are Nagoya’s (and Aichi’s) sole representatives in Japanese Football League - the J-League. Many a person has raised their eyebrows in bewilderment upon hearing the team for the first time. However strange it may be at first glance there is a solid reason behind the name.

Originally founded in 1939 as part of Toyota Motor’s football division, the club played in the amateur Japan Soccer League under the Toyota name. In 1993 when the professional J-league was launched, the team was renamed Nagoya Grampus Eight.

Grampus, a common alternative way of describing an orca or killer whale, is the symbol of Nagoya. The kanji character for grampus can be read two ways. One reading is “shachi” which is the Japanese for grampus. The other reading is “shachihoko” which represents a monster with the head of a tiger and the tail of a carp - a gold-plated pair of these beasts adorn the top of Nagoya Castle, the most visible symbols of Nagoya City.

The eight is derived from another symbol of Nagoya, the maru-hachi, like the Circle K logo except the K is replaced by a Japanese 8. The maru-hachi was the symbol of the Owari Tokugawa family, descendants of Yoshinao Tokugawa the 9^th son of shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa. The Tokugawa family resided in Nagoya Castle from its completion in 1616 until the 1860’s. The Nagoya Grampus Eight team name like so many other sports teams around the world reflects the history of the town that they proudly represent.