1-2-3 Baseball Posts You’re Out!
A year ago to the date (April 12…lol), I was in Tokyo with a group of friends on my way back from Seoul. Not being in a rush to get back home, we stayed a few days in Japan. Having already been to Japan a few times in the last few years, I wanted to do something that I hadn’t done before. Watching a Japanese baseball game was one of them. A Yomiuri Giants regular season game no less!
The game was at the Tokyo Dome where its inside reminded me of the Big O in MTL. Its inside was large and cavernous and lacked the charm of an outdoor field.
The pregame hoopla was pretty similar with what one might encounter to an American baseball game. Fans lining up to buy souvenirs, getting their food order in and scurrying to find their seats. One thing that surprised me was that people were still coming into the stadium in the 3rd & 4th inning. The Tokyo Dome was a full house by the 5th inning…lol
I am glad to report that there were lots of things that would make any diehard baseball fan proud of the Japanese game. Hot dogs are served and were pretty tasty for J-dogs…lol
Beer over here is as expensive as any sporting event back home. 8 bux times 2 for me…lolo
And Tokyo baseball fans are as rowdy as any diehard Yankee or BoSox fan (or Habs fan…lol)!
A couple of neat things that differentiated the game experience was that fans over in Japan have songs for each player and each team. When a particular player comes to bat, fans in the bleachers (often time the most rowdy ones in the stadium…lol) start singing the guys theme song! I read somewhere that even in between games and during the off season, fans gather together and practice their chants.
I also found it amusing that between each inning, there would have a guy with a sign warning everyone to be mindful of errant balls during the game.
And for those lucky enough to have field level seats, a batting helmet and a glove is provided for protection…lol
The Giants ended up beating the Yakult Swallows 4-2 thanks to a 3 run 1st inning and a homer by Yoshinobu Takahashi
Another great (yet familiar) Japanese experience… And remember if you ever go to a ball game in Japan, they don’t have ketchup but they do have ketchup’s distant cousin Catsup…lol
ha ha ha…. i went to Tokyo Dome too, but not for baseball, to see Celine Dion!!! Obviously the atmosphere is quite different for a concert….. someday….!
Ah… Céline Dion… Canada’s gift to music…lol Was her concert in Tokyo good?
I know she recently collaborated with Yuna Ito (伊藤 由奈) for a song called A World to Believe In (あなたがいる限り ～A World to Believe In～), which is a song I do like.
Celine is planning to have a series of concerts in her hometown here in Montreal, Canada in the summer. This will mark the first time in many years that she will perform in front of her native people. Needless to say, tickets are sold out…lol
aaah yes…and the concert was brilliant! Yuna Ito did come out and they did the song together…a nice touch to the concert. Second time I’ve seen her at the Dome..it was awesome to say the least!
I’m glad you gave us cheapies the experience of a field level game. We of course didn’t see any signs warning us about errant balls and didn’t have mitts either. But you can’t beat the atmosphere of a game in Tokyo.
I got my tickets via a ticket broker over in the States. I had no clue were I would end up sitting as the tickets arrived at our hotel the day before the game. Still dunno why there was a batting helmet as there was a huge net in front of us…lol
But my Japan baseball experience is right up there with being live at Fenway Park for Clay Buchholz’s no-hitter as my best sports memories of ‘08…
how come i never heard of this? or maybe i did but was too drunk at the time to remember lol
you didn’t post any pics of them!?
The no hitter will probably the topic of an upcoming post…lol