Pickleball Comes to Japan on Tokyo Sansan Open 2026

From July 1 to 4, Arena Tachikawa Tachihi in western Tokyo will host the Sansan Tokyo Open, a PPA Asia 500 stop and the first PPA Tour Asia event ever held in Japan's capital.

The tournament carries US$50,000 in prize money and 500 PPA ranking points per event, putting it firmly in the mix as one of the most significant stops on the 2026 Asian calendar. With pro and amateur draws running side by side, the Tokyo Open is not just a spectator event. It is a tournament that players of all levels can enter.

Here is what you need to know before the action kicks off.

Event Details

Prize Breakdown

The Venue: Arena Tachikawa Tachihi

Arena Tachikawa Tachihi sits in the Tachihi district of Tachikawa City, about 40 minutes west of central Tokyo by train. The venue is a modern, purpose-built sports arena with 11 courts laid out on PickleRoll surface, all under full air-conditioning. Upper-deck seating gives spectators a full view of every court, while courtside areas bring fans right into the action.

Getting there is straightforward. Tachihi Station on the Tama Monorail is a one-minute walk from the arena, and the monorail connects directly to major lines, including the JR Chuo Line at Tachikawa Station. For those flying in, Haneda Airport is roughly an hour away by rail.

The event is being produced by TBS Holdings, one of Japan's leading broadcast and entertainment groups. The involvement of a major media organisation means the production quality at the Tokyo Open is expected to go beyond a standard tournament setup. Audio-visual presentation and live streaming are both built into the event experience, which is relatively rare for pickleball events in Japan at this scale.

Why the Tokyo Open Matters

Japan has hosted PPA Tour Asia events before. Sansan (the title sponsor) also backed the PPA Tour Asia Sansan Fukuoka Open in August 2025, which was the first PPA Tour Asia event ever held in Japan. Tokyo is the next step up: a larger city, a larger venue, a larger field.

Pickleball's growth in Japan has been rapid. Local estimates put the country's player population at around 45,000, a figure that reportedly grew roughly fivefold in a single year. Sansan has been among the most active corporate backers of the sport, sponsoring players like Nasa Hatakeyama and Kei Sawaki, and is now opening a dedicated indoor pickleball facility in Ikebukuro, central Tokyo, also in July 2026.

For the rest of Asia, the Tokyo Open is part of a bigger picture. The 2026 PPA Tour Asia calendar now stretches across Japan, China, Singapore, Vietnam, and beyond. Each new city on the map is another signal that professional pickleball in Asia is no longer a regional experiment but a circuit that is taking real shape.

We have covered the PPA Tour Asia across Kuala Lumpur, Macao, and Beijing this season. Tokyo is next on that list.

Pro Events on the Draw

The Tokyo Open runs five pro championship categories: Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. Seeds and draws will be confirmed closer to the event. Players with a top-20 PPA ranking are not eligible for the standard pro entry, keeping the field competitive and open to rising talent from across the region.

Japanese players will have home crowd support, and names like Nasa Hatakeyama and Kenta Miyoshi, both of whom appeared in the Beijing Open draw, will be ones to watch. Based on the form shown through the first half of the 2026 season, the Vietnamese contingent and players out of Australia and Hong Kong will also be in contention across the categories.

Amateur Draw: Play Where the Pros Play

One of the defining features of PPA Tour Asia events is that amateur players compete in the same venue as the pros, on the same courts, across the same four days. 

Amateur categories cover a range of skill levels (below 3.499 and 3.5 and above) and age groups. Registration closed on June 1, 2026, and the field is reported to have close to 600 or more players registered across all brackets. If you missed registration for Tokyo, the next stop on the PPA Tour Asia calendar is the Singapore Open on July 23 to 26.

Get Ready for Tokyo

ThePickleBase will be following the Sansan Tokyo Open as it unfolds. Follow us on Instagram at @thepicklebase for draws, scores, and coverage from across the region.

And if the Tokyo Open has got you thinking about levelling up your own game, find a certified pickleball coach near you at coach.thepicklebase.com. Whether you are just picking up a paddle or preparing to compete, the right coach makes the difference.