In 1997, the Chunichi Dragons moved into newly opened Nagoya Dome. Seating 40,500 fans, the new facility received near orgasmic raves from dome-loving Japanese commentators, and growls from some Americans living in Japan. In his weekly column, Dave Wiggins of the Mainichi Daily News called the "Nagoya Penitentiary Dome" a "warden's dream" because "fans are kept kilometers from the inmates."

While the dome's roof sprang a leak shortly after the beginning of the season, it hasn't yet been engulfed in flames (like Nagoya Stadium a few years ago), though there is still hope. But if domes are your thing...

The Interior: Like the elevated walkway around the dome, the interior is very similar to Tokyo Dome. There are scores of shops, booths and restaurants selling various snacks and meals for the price of a few krugerands. Escalators, elevators, rest rooms for the disabled, and a day-care center are some of the better innovations at Nagoya Dome.

Smoking is only allowed in designated areas near the entrances because, if a lit cigarette were dropped in a trash can, the whole dome might burn to the ground. And that would be a pity.

Seating: The upper-deck bleacher seats are only a few meters from where Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Bring binoculars or a telescope. Fortunately, there are no protective fences atop the outfield wall, so outfield reserved seats (on the lower level) tend to have good sight-lines.

Foul territory is immense. Only Chiba Marine Stadium removes fans further from the action. Like Tokyo Dome and most other newer ballparks, front row seats are several meters above the field at the foul poles, sloping down to just a meter at the center of the foul lines. A high protective wire fence extends from the backstop to each foul pole. As usual, the best seats are those twenty or more rows removed from the playing field, where fans may see over the wire fence. I'm not sure if fans can keep foul balls, but it seems unlikely.

Arena View, Prime Box, Prime Twin and other luxury box seats ring the stadium, just below the upper deck bleachers. As with most status-oriented seats, the prices are high and the view is mediocre. You'll get a much better view with more comfortable surroundings simply by staying at home and watching the game on TV.

Looking around: With blue playing field walls, and emerald, yellow and blue seats, there's more color at Nagoya Dome than at most other arenas.

Because the ceiling is painted light gray, it's much easier to see pop flies than at Tokyo Dome (which has a white canopy). Lighting is adequate, and the sound system is far better than the dome in Tokyo. Advertisements twice ring the stadium--colorful billboards around the rim, and white-lettered ads along the blue playing field fences.

The outfield scoreboard is, at best, adequate. I still prefer the older one at Tokyo's Jingu Stadium--the only scoreboard in Japan that lists every player's home run total and batting average for the duration of the game. Behind Nagoya's home plate, the secondary scoreboard is the best I've seen in Japan. The only flaw, however, is that while it lists each batter's home runs, RBIs and average, it fails to mention their names.

The playing field: The dome's snow cone-shaped outfield wall stands nearly five meters (16 feet) tall (one of the highest in Japan), and lies 122 meters (400 ft.) from home plate in center, 116m (380 ft.) in the power alleys, and 100m (328 ft.) down the foul lines. The distances are not printed on the outfield wall. With these "Major League" dimension, don't expect to see many home runs.

Recessed areas along the foul lines, robbing the dome of potentially a few hundred excellent seats, would be great places to locate bullpens. Relief pitchers, instead, warm-up in special underground bunkers where fans cannot see them.

The rounded backstop, a catcher's nightmare, means that passed balls may roll in any direction. Will Nagoya Dome's artificial turf contribute to as many injuries as Tokyo Dome's under-padded carpet has? We'll see.

No Atmosphere: As you might expect in any multi-purpose dome, there is little personality. The problem can be found at similar ballparks from Chiba to Fukuoka: cookie cutter dimensions, hidden bullpens, poorly manicured fields covered with artificial turf, and enough foul territory to make room for soccer and football games (but which leave baseball fans far from the action).

Nagoya Dome is simply the latest in a generation of least-common-denominator fields, built in cities that are too cheap to make separate high quality baseball parks, soccer stadiums, concert arenas and convention centers. Sadder still are that fans, most of whom have never seen a great baseball-only park, seldom realize what they're missing.

The only distinguishing aspect of Nagoya Dome, it's ceiling tiles which open to let in sunshine, has little impact on night games. While outdoor stadiums usually offer a skyline view, the only visual diversion at Nagoya Dome are its advertisements.

Commercial and tacky, the ubiquitous advertisements are entirely appropriate to the dome's purpose--take as much of the fan's money while offering as little as possible in return. Unless, that is, you only come to baseball games for junk food at caviar prices and the status of "being there."

A minor suggestion: Yes, there is a great place in Nagoya to see a baseball game, but it isn't the dome. If the sun is shining, go to Chunichi's former ballpark, Nagoya Stadium, and watch the Dragons' minor league team play. True, this is the same ballpark that twice caught on fire. But with that distinction, its funky scoreboard and irregular shape, this is one of the few places that doesn't look like it dropped out of a mold. There is a scruffy atmosphere you just won't find at any dome.

Tickets are only 1,000 yen, you can sit anywhere you want, and bring anything with you. Since there are no oendan (cheering sections), there's little superfluous noise. Fans come to watch the game, not the gimmicks. This is Japanese baseball in its most distilled form.

Otherwise, if you want to watch the varsity Dragons play, save yourself some money and aggravation by watching them play on the road at any of the four remaining Central League outdoor stadiums--Hiroshima, Koshien, Jingu and Yokohama.