Baseball, Japanese Style

Yumi thinks I should write about our sojourn to Ikea last night and all of the Christmas decorations in this Buddhist/Shintoist country (it's a secular holiday -- like in much of the United States, only with a tradition of going to KFC with your significant other. I'm not kidding.)

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I prefer to discuss one of my favorite topics: baseball (especially before the baseball season is completely forgotten). Before I begin, I must admit that it's tough to be away from Cleveland while the Indians had such a great season, the Browns show promise, and the Cavs are trying to return to the NBA Finals (although the way they're going they're more likely to get the #1 pick in next year's draft).

OK, back to baseball in Japan. In Pulp Fiction Samuel L. Jackson's character, Jules Winnfield says, "My girlfriend's a vegetarian, so that pretty much makes me a vegetarian (although I do enjoy a tasty burger)." Well, my girlfriend is from Hiroshima and a Carps fan, so that pretty much makes me a Carps fan. Unfortunately, the Carp are the Kansas City Royals of Japanese baseball. This year they had the second worst record of all 12 teams (60 wins, 82 losses, 2 ties, 0.423 winning percentage). And they've been pretty bad for a while now.

Nevertheless, we made it to two games this year. One against the Japanese New York Yankees (the Tokyo Giants) and one against the Yokohama Bay Stars. I conveniently teach right across the street from the Yokohama stadium which is really cool. One view from the YMCA building where we are located, looks directly into the stadium. (second picture)

The games themselves weren't all that interesting. Hiroshima naturally lost them both. The Giants game was a rout but they were creative in losing to Yokohama -- taking the lead in the 7th inning and then letting Yokohama come back for a walk-off win in the 9th. The most interesting thing for me was the crowd.

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First, there are designated sections for fans of both teams. The outfield sections are the rowdiest. Then you have the coordinated cheering while your team bats. There are a few variations of cheers which are repeated over, and over, and over again throughout the entire half-inning. Then the other side takes over. It involves a cheer-leader (with a constantly used whistle), standing and sitting, arm motions, cheering and chanting, trumpets, drums, and flags. It's really something to witness. I think the craziest thing was that the Yokohama game was in mid-October and neither team was in contention. It was a weeknight game and miserable weather (rainy and cold) and yet there were significant numbers of fans cheering their hearts out like it was the 7th game of the Japan Series. At the Giants game it was even more intense but anytime the Giants play there will be fierce emotions on both sides (again, think Yankees), the Giants were in contention, it was a weekend, and indoors (the ugly Tokyo Dome, aka the Big Egg -- Tokyo's version of Minnesota's Metrodome).

It really was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to next season when I can have the yearly spring optimism and see some games in some of the other stadiums as well. I've told Yumi that we have to plan a trip to Hiroshima around when the Carp will be playing at home.