Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium | 東京体育館

This is a great facility. The pool is kept at 27ºC (80º - 81ºF). There is a sign on the door to the pool that says they do not allow swim fins, but there were plenty of people swimming with fins. So, I asked the lifeguard. They allow half-fins (zoomers) but not the full-length, scuba-type fins. The lockers are not the ¥100 deposit-type lockers. You use your admission ticket to access the lockers. The lanes in the 50-meter pool are marked for slow, medium and fast swimmers. Sadly, there is only one fast lane, and some of the swimmers are not as fast as perhaps they should be, but everyone is polite and accommodating.
August, 2026]

This is a great pool. I swam here twice in October, 2025, and the temperature in the 50m pool was posted as 29º C. The only thing you could say to fault this pool is that they keep it on the warm side.

In addition to the etiquette recommendations in the earlier reviews, also note that there is a separate showering area (and suit spinners!) that you use after the swim; you are expected to dry completely before reentering the locker room, so bring your towel on deck with you, rather than leaving it in your locker. On the walls of the pool (under the pace clock, on the stadium side) there are plastic cubbies where you can place your towel until you return to the shower/locker area.

Also check their calendar - although they have generous hours, they are closed on some holidays that can be reviewed on their website.

This is definitely at the top of the list for lap pools in Tokyo - choices of 25m or 50m pools with water temperatures that are actually conducive to lap swimming. The lanes are clearly marked by speed and the lifeguards are good about requesting that you move lanes if you are too fast or too slow. No passing is allowed, although people are pretty considerate about waiting at the end of the pool if you are swimming fast for them.

If you go on a weekday in the early afternoon, you might get lucky and have only a couple of people in your 50m lane. Weekends are hectic with as many as 15 people in a lane. The 25m pool always seems to be busier, as only a few lanes are available for swimming laps due to swim lessons. Make sure you cover your tattoos with a rash guard or bandage and bring a swim cap and goggles. No watch or jewelry is allowed. Kickboards and pull buoys are available.

Your entrance ticket allows you 2.5 hours’ access, not just to the pool but to the weight room and treadmills.

The pool here is part of a larger sports complex. It’s somewhat difficult to find, but head for the glass pyramid and you’ll see the entrance underneath. The 50m pool was clean, well-organized by swim speed, and the water was a comfortable temperature. Lockers were available, though there were also open poolside cubbies to place your things.

Like other pools in Japan, swim caps are required, and water bottles cannot be kept on the pool deck (although you may leave them on the benches 10 feet away). Kickboards and buoys are available to use, but you aren’t allowed to bring your own equipment. The pool enforces the 10 minute hourly break period, so keep that in mind.

For those with tattoos, this seemed to be one of the few Japanese pools where I saw people with tattoos allowed to swim.

Overall, it’s a great place to do laps.

This well-kept, 50-meter pool has designated lane speeds, and no passing is allowed. Pull-buoys and kickboards are available for use. You cannot wear smartwatch or any (!) jewelry in the pool.

You purchase your ticket at a kiosk - it is also used to enter the gymnasium so you could theoretically swim AND use the gym during the 2½ hours. But make sure to keep your ticket, as you insert it on the inside of the locker to lock it and you have to scan it on the way out in order to ensure that you haven't overstayed your 2½ hours.

This is a great, clean, large facility. Tickets are purchased from a ticket machine in the entrance that can be switched to English. The ticket has a QR code which is read both at entry and exit. The ticket is also inserted in back of the locks on lockers in change rooms to activate the locks. Use of the lockers is free with entry with wristband keys.

The water was a comfortable 29ºC (84ºF) in the 50-meter pool. The lane signs are in English, as well as Japanese and, in my experience (two morning swims), almost everyone was in an appropriate lane. There were two, occasionally three swimmers per lane in my mid-morning swims. The pool water is clear and clean. I saw one person with a kick board and a couple doing flip turns in the faster lanes. I swam only in the 50-meter pool.

The lockers and showers are large and clean. There’s a large, rectangular hot tub in men’s locker room (and no doubt in women’s). If you aren’t familiar with Japanese hot tub etiquette: full bathing with lots of soap in adjacent bathing room is required prior to use; no trunks or other clothing is permitted in the hot tub; your hair should not be put in the water; neither a towel nor any other personal object should be placed in the water or on the edge of the hot tub (many Japanese carry a small towel and place it, folded, on top of their heads while in a hot tub).

The facility is super easy to find from JR Sendagaya (main exit) or the Kokuritsu-Kyogijo Metro Station (Exit A3). The staff is very helpful. This is a great pool.
[April, 2023].

This is a fantastic facility and very well organized. Enter under the pyramid, get a ticket from the vending machine (the buttons are only in Japanese but just press the one that says ¥600), put the ticket in the turnstile at the gate, choose any locker, put your ticket in the slot in the lock, remove the key to take with you swimming. Then do all those steps in reverse on the way out (you need the ticket to leave the gate so they know you haven't overstayed).

The locker rooms are spotless. Swim caps are required. Passing is not permitted, as another reviewer has said, but you can make U-turns. I visited twice on a weekday morning, when there were about five people per 50m lane, and on a weekend, when it was much busier (eight to ten swimmers per lane). But the organization is so good that it didn't feel crowded; there were slow, medium, and fast lanes, and lifeguards enforced speeds by telling the slowpokes to move if they were in the wrong lane. (Embarrassingly I chose medium and was immediately told I was too slow (~50sec/50m pace) so I picked up the pace and all was fine.)

The staff do not speak English well but are very helpful and have handouts and signs in English to help. There appeared to be three 10-minute mandatory breaks throughout the day for them to inspect and clean the pool.

Highly recommended. They even have free wifi!

This is a wonderful facility.

Unlike previous reviewers, however, I have seen people with flippers, mitts, and so on use them without problem. Also, the need for ten minute rest periods was not observed in the twenty or so visits I made in December 2014/January 2015.

A swim cap is mandatory, but there is a shop there, where one can be purchased, if needed. The cheapest one is ¥1000.

The best times for weekday swimming seem to be between 1 PM and 3:30 PM and then from 6 PM on. The afternoons get busy with swim teams that can make consistent swimming a challenge. I did not swim in the morning, so cannot comment.

The hot bath afterwards is the best.

I recently visited this pool. It's a great pool, but I found it crowded. It has nice showers and onzen facilities for soaking. Hair dryers are provided for the women.

Westerners: Be advised that the Japanese have different rules for swimming from anywhere else: No swim watches. No wrist monitors. No bracelets, iPods, or flippers. I was stopped for violating all of these rules. No "outstripping", which I learned is overtaking another swimmer. Also, there are mandatory, 10-minute rest periods. I happened to be caught in a mandatory rest period after only 20 minutes of swimming, but was yanked out of the pool along with the rest of the herd. They seem to require this every two hours. And don't bring your flip flops into the swimming pool area.

Extremely helpful non-English speaking front desk personnel walked me through the entry procedures. Crowded, but a good deal.

A GREAT pool, clean, well managed and a perfect temperature. Highly recommended.

Lockers use magnetic locks; show your ticket at the front desk. The 50m pool is not too crowded weekend AMs or Sundays after 6 PM.

The 50m pool has speed designated lanes (fast/medium/slow in both English and Japanese); the 25m pool is a bun fight.