The National High School Rugby Tournament (known as “Hanazono”) traditionally opens on December 27 at Higashiosaka City Hanazono Rugby Stadium and runs across the New Year to a final on January 7. For the Spring High School Volleyball Tournament (“Haruko,” formally the JVA 79th All Japan High School Volleyball Championship), the official tournament site’s outline lists January 4 (Mon) to 7 (Thu) and January 9 (Sat) to 10 (Sun), 2027, at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (Sendagaya, Shibuya). Both events bring players, coaching staff, parents and supporters who stay anywhere from a few days to around ten days, and both fall on the same dates as the general year-end and New Year demand from homecoming trips, New Year shrine visits and the Coming of Age Day holiday. This article lines up the room stock around Hanazono Rugby Stadium and in eastern Osaka City, the lodging capacity around Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, and the estimated settled ADR for the same period last year, and lays out how to think about inventory allocation over the holidays.

Three National High School Tournaments Over the Holidays — Where the Schedules Stand

Start with the dates. Hanazono opened on December 27 and held its final on January 7 in each of the past two tournaments; 51 schools took part in the 104th, and 56 in the 105th, a commemorative edition. For Haruko volleyball, the official tournament site’s outline clearly states the 79th tournament’s dates as January 4 (Mon) to 7 (Thu) and 9 (Sat) to 10 (Sun), with Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium as the venue. January 8 (Fri) is a rest day with no matches, and the semifinals and final fall on the first and second days of the Coming of Age Day three-day weekend. In the Tokyo area, the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament also runs in parallel, from December 28 (Mon) to January 11 (Mon, holiday).

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from Morioka City “104th National High School Rugby Football Tournament participation report,” Ritsumeikan Keisho High School “105th tournament donation request,” the Spring High School Volleyball official site “Outline,” and the Japan Football Association tournament page

Seen from the lodging-demand side, what these three tournaments have in common is that guests “move as groups, stay long, and stay on dates that overlap the peak of general demand.” Players and staff stay consecutive nights from the first round until they are eliminated — from the opening to the final if they keep winning — while parents and supporters come and go around match days. Meanwhile, general demand peaks with homecoming and holiday travel from December 27 to January 3, and with the Coming of Age Day three-day weekend from January 9. The two types of demand end up competing for the same rooms twice: at the end of December and in early January.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from each tournament’s official and report materials (Hanazono based on the usual progression)

No Lodging With 10+ Rooms Within 2km of Hanazono Rugby Stadium; 996 Rooms Within 5km

The room stock in this article covers lodging properties with 10 or more rooms (excluding leisure/love hotels) within a 5,000m radius of Hanazono Rugby Stadium. “Active” means properties whose selling prices were observed on major booking sites in the most recent 3 months (August–October 2026) (as of October 23, 2026, compiled by MetroEngines Research).

Drawing a 2km radius around Hanazono Rugby Stadium, there are zero lodging properties with 10+ rooms, either listed or active. The nearest station to the venue is Higashi-Hanazono on the Kintetsu Nara Line, but the surrounding area is mostly residential and industrial, and lodging clusters are split between Fuse and Nagata (western Higashiosaka), 3–5km to the west, and the Yao City side, 4–5km to the south. Widening to a 5km radius gives 12 listed properties with 1,092 rooms, of which 9 properties with 996 rooms are active, with selling prices observed in the last 3 months. By type, business hotels dominate with 10 properties and 1,005 rooms (8 active, 933 rooms), plus one ryokan with 63 rooms.

By size band, the two properties with 201+ rooms hold 455 rooms and the two with 101–200 rooms hold 272, so four properties account for over 70% of the rooms in the radius. By opening decade, the addition of two properties with 323 rooms opened in the 2020s lifted the room count in the radius from 697 in 2023 to 1,020 in 2024. In terms of group capacity, this 2024 increase widened the options for Hanazono teams and supporters. For reference, on a major-booking-site listed basis, Higashiosaka City as a whole has 9 properties and 899 rooms, and neighboring Yao City has 4 properties and 134 rooms, so even citywide the scale is around 1,000 rooms.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research data (as of October 2026)

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research data

Capacity on the Osaka City Side — 2,780 Rooms Around Tsuruhashi and Uehommachi on the Kintetsu Line, 47,340 Within 3km

The rooms inside Higashiosaka City alone are too few to absorb the players and staff of participating schools, their parents and supporters, and general year-end demand all at once. The actual capacity lies on the Osaka City side, which connects directly to the venue on the Kintetsu Nara Line — namely the Tsuruhashi and Uehommachi area (Tennoji, Higashinari and Ikuno wards) extending into Chuo and Naniwa wards. The room stock here covers lodging properties with 10 or more rooms (excluding leisure/love hotels) within a 1,500m radius of Tsuruhashi Station. “Active” means properties whose selling prices were observed on major booking sites in the most recent 3 months (August–October 2026) (as of October 23, 2026, compiled by MetroEngines Research).

Within 1.5km of Tsuruhashi Station there are 50 listed properties with 2,780 rooms, of which 21 properties with 1,857 rooms are active. By type, there are 21 business hotels (1,073 rooms) and 4 city hotels (858 rooms), plus 18 hostels and guesthouses. Widening to 3km takes in Namba, Shinsaibashi and Tennoji, reaching 491 listed properties with 47,340 rooms and 279 active properties with 33,877 rooms. In other words, a single train ride from the venue puts more than 30 times the rooms in Higashiosaka City within reach.

Looking at listed property and room counts on major booking sites by ward, Tennoji has 26 properties and 2,768 rooms, Chuo 216 properties and 34,498 rooms, and Naniwa 62 properties and 10,131 rooms, while Higashinari, close to the venue, has only 3 properties and 108 rooms, and Ikuno 4 properties and 147 rooms. Lodging demand from Hanazono is therefore absorbed not by the wards nearest the venue but by rooms in Tennoji and Chuo wards, two to four stops away on the Kintetsu line.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research data (property and room counts are listed basis as of October 2026; ADR on a verified-history basis)

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research data. Circle size = room count; filled = active, hollow = listed only. Dotted lines show 2km and 5km radii from Hanazono Rugby Stadium

Estimated Settled ADR a Year Earlier — Higashiosaka at ¥7,700 in December and ¥7,900 in January (Reference Values), With No January Drop

On pricing, it is worth looking at the estimated settled ADR for the same period last year (December 2025 and January 2026). Note, however, that Higashiosaka has only 6–7 properties in the estimate, so all of the figures below should be treated as reference values. Higashiosaka’s estimated settled ADR was ¥7,744 in December 2025 (n=6, -1.5% YoY) and ¥7,886 in January 2026 (n=7, +7.9% YoY).

What stands out is the move from December to January. Osaka Prefecture as a whole fell -14.5%, from ¥11,120 in December to ¥9,513 in January, and Tennoji Ward fell -14.8%, from ¥9,799 to ¥8,350 — the normal seasonal pattern of rates dropping after the New Year. By contrast, Higashiosaka was nearly flat at +1.8%, with January not falling below December. In the prior year (December 2024 → January 2025), it fell -7.0%, in the same direction as Osaka Prefecture, so the flat 2025-26 result looks consistent with stay demand from a tournament that runs until January 7. That said, this is a median of only 6–7 properties — a scale at which one property’s pricing can move the figure — so there is not enough evidence to attribute it definitively to the tournament. It is worth checking whether the same pattern appears in the same period next season.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research data

*Higashiosaka’s estimated settled ADR is the median of 6–7 properties (listed on major booking sites) and is a reference value. The upswing from April to October 2025 overlaps the Osaka-Kansai Expo period (April 13 – October 13, 2025).

A further implication is that Higashiosaka’s rate level is lower than that of each ward in Osaka City. In January 2026, estimated settled ADR was ¥11,250 in Chuo (n=193), ¥10,350 in Kita (n=72), ¥10,196 in Naniwa (n=50) and ¥8,350 in Tennoji (n=25), versus ¥7,886 in Higashiosaka (reference value). This suggests that rooms in Higashiosaka, close to the venue, have been taking group demand in a price band separate from the rate competition of general demand. Team lodging is often arranged through a “haishuku” (official lodging allocation) framework in which the organizer sets a cap on lodging fees, and that cap is generally set below market prices. The allocation mechanism itself is covered in detail in Aomori 2026 Sports Games Lodging: ¥18,000 Cap vs ¥5,900 Break-Even, so this article focuses on the overlap of holiday inventory.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research data

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research data (verified-history basis; Higashiosaka is a reference value with n=6–7)

The Tokyo Side — 12,896 Rooms Within 2km of Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium; Shibuya’s January ADR ¥23,400, +24.2% YoY

Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, the Haruko volleyball venue, is in Sendagaya, Shibuya Ward, near the border with Shinjuku Ward. The room stock here covers lodging properties with 10 or more rooms (excluding leisure/love hotels) within a 2,000m radius of Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. “Active” means properties whose selling prices were observed on major booking sites in the most recent 3 months (August–October 2026) (as of October 23, 2026, compiled by MetroEngines Research).

Within 2km of Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium there are 86 listed properties with 12,896 rooms, of which 56 properties with 9,275 rooms are active. Business hotels form the core with 49 properties and 7,072 rooms, and the radius takes in the large business hotels from the south exit of Shinjuku Station to Nishi-Shinjuku. Two training/group lodging facilities with 1,544 rooms also fall within the radius; they are not sold on major booking sites, but they have long served as lodging for national tournament teams. By ward, Shibuya has 42 properties and 6,414 rooms and Shinjuku 125 properties and 20,375 rooms (listed basis on major booking sites), so Haruko lodging demand needs to be viewed across both Shibuya and Shinjuku.

Rate levels are entirely different from eastern Osaka. Shibuya’s estimated settled ADR was ¥27,546 in December 2025 (n=29, +12.8% YoY) and ¥23,446 in January 2026 (n=31, +24.2% YoY); Shinjuku’s was ¥17,502 in December (n=84) and ¥15,536 in January (n=94, +23.8% YoY). The December-to-January decline was -14.9% in Shibuya, -11.2% in Shinjuku and -16.6% for Tokyo as a whole, so the early-January trough is clear in Tokyo as well (the daily peaks across five cities and the shape of the trough up to Coming of Age Day can be checked day by day in New Year 2026-27 Hotel Rates: Tokyo −22% Dec→Jan, Peaks in 5 Cities). The Haruko dates, January 4–10, fall squarely inside this trough, with only the semifinals and final on January 9 and 10 overlapping the Coming of Age Day three-day weekend. For Tokyo lodging operators, Haruko is more realistically positioned as demand that fills the first-week-of-January trough with group stays, rather than demand that carries over December’s high rates.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research data

How to Allocate Inventory — Separating Group Blocks and General Sales by Date

To sum up, lodging demand from Hanazono and Haruko has three characteristics. First, there are few rooms right next to the venues, and the real capacity is in the big-city rooms a few train stops away. Second, teams are secured early through the official lodging allocation framework, while parents, supporters and general demand move at short notice through major booking sites (the booking pace showing that urban year-end demand concentrates in the final 45 days is covered in New Year 2026-27: Take Dec 28 Off for 9 Days, Booking Pace from Nov 11). Third, the tournament periods span both the peaks of general demand (year-end, the first three days of January, Coming of Age Day) and its trough (the first week of January).

For operators in eastern Osaka, the opportunity lies in changing the role of inventory between two periods: late December and from January 4 onward. December 27 to January 3 is when homecoming and New Year shrine-visit demand supports rates, so there is room to keep rooms held as group blocks to the minimum needed for extensions if teams advance, and release the rest to general sales. On the other hand, January 4–7 is a week when rates fall across Osaka Prefecture, and the multi-night stays of teams and supporters who survive to the semifinals and final are valuable demand to fill that trough. Last year’s observation that Higashiosaka’s January estimated settled ADR did not fall below December (a reference value) suggests that group demand in that week can also help support rates.

On the Osaka City side (Tennoji, Chuo and Naniwa wards), Hanazono supporters are absorbed as part of general demand. However, match schedules are set by a draw in early December, and stays lengthen the further a team advances, so inquiries about extensions tend to cluster after the January 1 re-draw. Holding back inventory that can accept extensions, timed for when general year-end demand recedes after January 4, is a clear opportunity from a group-sales perspective. The same applies on the Tokyo side, where a split of multi-night group stays from January 4–8 and general three-day-weekend demand on January 9–10 holds up.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research data

Summary

There are no lodging properties with 10+ rooms within 2km of Hanazono Rugby Stadium; active rooms within 5km total 996, and Higashiosaka City as a whole has 9 listed properties with 899 rooms. The actual capacity for this lodging demand is on the Osaka City side of the Kintetsu line, with 2,780 rooms within 1.5km of Tsuruhashi Station and 47,340 within 3km. A year earlier, Higashiosaka’s estimated settled ADR was ¥7,700 in December and ¥7,900 in January (reference values, n=6–7), holding flat while Osaka Prefecture as a whole fell -14.5% from December to January. On the Tokyo side, there are 12,896 rooms within 2km of Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Shibuya’s January estimated settled ADR was ¥23,400 (+24.2% YoY), and the Haruko dates fall within the first-week-of-January trough. The key to holiday inventory allocation is to separate the role of group blocks by date, in line with the peaks and troughs of general demand. Confirm the 106th Hanazono tournament’s final dates and number of schools against the organizers’ official announcement, and revisit capacity for extensions after the bracket draw in early December.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Are there hotels near Hanazono Rugby Stadium?
A. There are no lodging properties with 10+ rooms within a 2km radius. Lodging clusters are in Fuse and Nagata (western Higashiosaka), 3–5km to the west, and on the Yao City side, with 996 active rooms within 5km. In practice, the area from Tsuruhashi and Uehommachi to central Osaka, connected by the Kintetsu Nara Line, serves as the main lodging base.

Q. Are the dates and venue for Haruko volleyball 2027 confirmed?
A. The official tournament site’s outline lists January 4 (Mon) to 7 (Thu) and 9 (Sat) to 10 (Sun), 2027, at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (Sendagaya, Shibuya). There are no matches on January 8 (Fri).

Q. What are year-end and New Year hotel rates like in Higashiosaka?
A. Estimated settled ADR (median, tax-excluded equivalent) was ¥7,744 in December 2025 and ¥7,886 in January 2026. With only 6–7 properties covered, these are reference values. For the same period, Chuo Ward in Osaka City was ¥13,740 in December and ¥11,250 in January.