I shot this in August 2021. Except for a broken office door window, some scattered papers and machinery removed from the lanes this much loved bowling alley had remained virtually untouched since it shut its doors in September 2018. It opened in 1973, at the height of a bowling craze spreading across the country. Perhaps the person most responsible for this bowling boom during the 1970s was Nakayama Ritsuko (中山 律子), dubbed the “Queen of Japanese Bowling” although in reality the number one female bowler at the time was her arch rival Suda Kayoko, 須田開代子), who shot to instant stardom when, on August 27 1970, she rolled the first ever perfect 300 game on a live TV match. As it happens, her good looks and fashion choices, a mini-skirt shorter than any of her other rivals, also added to her celebrity status. In 1972 the Inazawa Grand Bowl (稲沢グランドボウル) featuring 116 lanes was built. It has since been registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the facility with the largest number of alleys on one floor in the world. Just less than 30km south of Inazawa Grand Bowl is the Nagoya Grand Bowl (名古屋グランドボウル) which has 156 lanes on 3 floors. As many as 3,697 bowling alleys sprung up during the 1970s. By 2017 however there were only 784 operating in the country.
Sources:Japan Today: “Bowling enjoys revival among wide age spread” Nov. 15, 2017.japantoday.com/category/featu...
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