Japan's World Cup venues

The Yokohama stadium, venue for the final

BBC Sport Online provides a full guide to the stadia which will host the World Cup 2002 games in Japan.

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Venue: Yokohama
Stadium: International Stadium
Capacity: 70,000
The venue for the final, the International Stadium boasts the first two-tiered stand in Japan and remains the biggest venue in the country.

Three-quarters of the seats are covered by a stainless-steel panel roof and there are giant screens at both ends of stadium.

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Venue: Saitama
Stadium: Saitama Stadium 2002
Capacity: 63,700

The Saitama Stadium

Urawa, the capital of the Saitama prefecture on the northern edge of Greater Tokyo, boasts two J-League teams. The Saitama Stadium will be used for one of the semi-finals, plus Japan's first game in the group stage.

The stadium developers claim to have created state of the art acoustics and lighting.

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Venue: Shizuoka
Stadium: Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa
Capacity: 50,600
The prefecture of Shizuoka is famous for Mount Fuji, green tea and now football. One of its two J-League teams - Jubilo Iwata - have been crowned Asian champions.

This new out-of-town stadium has 5,000 retractable seats which will cover the athletics track around the pitch.

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Venue: Osaka
Stadium: Nagai Stadium
Capacity: 50,000
Osaka is known as a city of commerce but it has ambitions to be a major sports city too - hence its bid for the 2008 Olympics.

The Nagai Stadium, with its athletics track surrounding the pitch, will be a major part of the bid alongside the 100,000 capacity Olympic Stadium, scheduled for completion in 2007.

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Venue: Miyagi
Stadium: Miyagi Stadium
Capacity: 49,291
The stadium's crescent-shaped roof is intended to replicate the battle helmet of the powerful Date clan who ruled Miyagi during Japan's feudal period.

Below its roof the stadium becomes less interesting, although Sendai is set on a particularly scenic stretch of mountain coastline.

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Venue: Oita
Stadium: Oita Stadium Big Eye
Capacity: 43,000
The name of this impressive domed stadium is explained by the retractable roof which, when being opened and closed, represents a giant winking eye.

This makes football viable in any weather. Oita does not have a team in the J-League and organisers admit they are working to make football more popular there.

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Venue: Niigata
Stadium: Niigata Stadium Big Swan
Capacity: 42,300

The Nigata Stadium

Formally one of Japan's least accessible cities because of its surrounding mountains, Niigata will host the first World Cup finals match to be played in Japan.

The stadium's name comes from the translucent white Teflon roof, which has been made to evoke swans alighting on the nearby Toyanogata lagoons and covers 90 per cent of the seating.

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Venue: Ibaraki
Stadium: Ibaraki Prefectural Kashima Soccer Stadium
Capacity: 42,000
Visitors to the stadium will be met by a statue at the entrance of Brazilian great Zico. He played for and coached the Kashima Antlers, taking them to the J-League championship.

Despite Zico's South American entrance this stadium has a European design, which lends it an intimate feel.

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Venue: Kobe
Stadium: Kobe Wing Stadium
Capacity: 42,000
Kobe dubbed itself an international sport city after the student Olympics were held there in 1985. A decade later sport was used as a focus for Kobe's restoration after a great earthquake.

The Wing Stadium was so-called to conjure up the image of a bird rising from the ashes of the disaster.

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The Sapporo Stadium

Venue: Sapporo
Stadium: Sapporo Dome
Capacity: 42,000
The local climate - which helped attract the Winter Olympics in 1972 - meant an all-weather stadium was essential. A field kept outside when not in use is rolled inside on a cushion of air when needed.

The seating system moves aside to allow it in and then slides back into place. The process takes about two hours.