For the last couple of years Ageo City have been replacing the playground at Ageo Sports Park. The old equipment is now almost all gone, but there is still two pieces that may or may not remain. Several pieces have been completely demolished including a cement monstrosity which was visually appealing, but lethal. They finally deemed it too dangerous and tore it down. It was an interesting piece, but as I wrote on our first visit back in 2012, it was an accident waiting to happen. For posterity:
Ageo Sports Park
The Ageo Sports Park is located on route 17 near – but on the opposite side of the road to – Saitama Prefecture Budokan, Saitama Ice Arena and the Saitama Prefecture Aqua Park. Unfortunately, the latter closed permanently during the pandemic. On my last visit to the prefectural Budokan (Golden week 2023), I could still see some of the water sliders. However, about half of the former aqua park was gone and they were in the process of tearing much of it down.
The park is used for sports and exercise by locals. You will always see people running, jogging or walking here. No matter the time of day! The park has a stadium and gymnastics hall. The playground is located near both and right beside the main parking lot. The toilets of the playground are rather cute! They may tear these down too as they are quite old, but I hope if they do that they build something equally aesthetic in their place!
New Playground
As of spring 2023 most of the new playground is completed, but there is still one piece yet to go in. The main multipurpose piece is very similar to the playground at Ichigo no Sato Roadside Station in Yoshimi! The battery car area is still there, but it has been newly cemented so it was temporarily out of service over Golden Week. The old swings are still there too, as is a climbing frame, but I imagine they will take that out too.
Information
Place: Ageo Sports Park 上尾運動公園
Address: 3 Chome-28-30 Atago, Ageo, Saitama 362-0034. View on Google Maps.
Hours: 24 hours
Cost: free and free parking
Access
The park is located just off the current Nakasendo, route 17, at the junction of route 51. It is about a 20 minute walk from JR Ageo Station which is on the Takasaki Line.