This park was developed as the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano City, Japan. Subsequent to the Olympic games the city converted the Olympic ceremony stadium into a baseball stadium and built additional sports facilities including a soccer stadium and tennis complex, as well as playgrounds and open park space within the staging and parking areas of the games.

 

The challenges were thus twofold–to create a dramatic and highly functional entrance and first impression for the Olympic games with the capability of handling large crowds while providing a comprehensive master plan for the later multi-phased recreation development. The overall park site is divided into zones for intensive use focused on the sports facilities and areas of passive use with a more natural landscape.