PUMPed
THE BIRTH OF A CLIMBING REVOLUTION IN JAPAN PUMP is Japan’s original mega gym brand. They’ve been offering indoor climbing to the island nation for nearly 30 years, and in that time they’ve watched indoor climbing grow from a fledgling supplement to outdoor climbing to a pursuit in itself. We caught up with two of PUMP’s longest-serving protagonists to learn more about their story of growth and evolution. RSM: When and where did PUMP get started? Satoru: We opened our first gym, PUMP1, in Saitama Prefecture in 1993 and our second gym, PUMP2, in Kanagawa Prefecture two years later. Both of these prefectures are adjacent to Tokyo. In 1998, we opened PUMP OSAKA in Osaka Prefecture. Osaka is the third-largest city in Japan after Tokyo and Yokohama. PUMP1, PUMP2, and PUMP OSAKA offer both rope climbing and bouldering. In 2002, we opened our first bouldering gym, B-PUMP, in Tokyo. This was followed by B-PUMP YOKOHAMA in Yokohama City in 2003 and B-PUMP TOKYO in central Tokyo in 2011. This gym is still the largest bouldering gym in Japan. In addition to opening new gyms, we’ve also renovated our existing gyms. We relocated PUMP1 in 1996, PUMP2 in 2006 and B-PUMP in 2007 and again in 2016. In 2017, we opened the PUMP Climber’s Academy in Tokyo, which specializes in climbing training programs.
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B-PUMP Tokyo 2011
RSM: Who founded PUMP? Satoru: The founder of PUMP is avid climber Naoya Naito, who has climbed over 500 5.12 routes (7a+ to 7c) and 50 5.13 routes (7c+ to 8b) all around the world. He also has a passion for bolting and first ascents, having developed more than 200 routes all over Japan between the 1980s and today. When I asked him why he decided to start a climbing gym business, he said, “Since I was a student, I dreamed of having my own company one day. And after visiting a climbing gym in San Francisco, California and experiencing climbing there, I thought to myself that this was the business I wanted to start in Japan.”
RSM: How does indoor climbing in Japan differ from other countries? Satoru: In Japan, where space is hard to come by, it is important to design gyms efficiently. In many cases, a climbing gym’s success is determined by how creatively and effectively that space is utilized. The number of wall angles that can be incorporated and how luxurious and unique the space feels compared with other gyms makes a big difference in Japan.
