We’ve always wanted to go to a baseball game in Japan. We usually visit in the Fall, which is when the Japan Series is on, so a difficult time to get tickets. Not to mention the logistics of acquiring tickets online. But, being here this time in the Spring we figured tickets might be more available. And, there is a service available that will get the tickets and deliver them to your hotel for you. That is what we did and when we checked in an envelope was waiting for us.
The Yomiuri Giants have been around since the 1930’s, and are often referred to as the New York Yankees of Japan. They win the series a lot and people have strong opinions about them. They are owned by a media conglomerate that has a major TV network and the Yomiuri Shimbun, a major newspaper.
The game was at the Tokyo Dome, which sits about 46,000 for baseball and which is part of a huge entertainment complex. The game started at 6:00 but we got there just before 5:00 to make sure that we could find our seats, our food and get settled.
Hot dogs and beer – check!
And if you run out of beer – well there are lovely young ladies who run and up and down, ready to refill your glass.
No cash – transit card, watch, phone. And if you prefer whisky highball – there’s a gal for that, too!
It was a good game – the Giants pitcher pitched the whole game, and they won 1-0. Low score but some great action and great plays. I’m not really great with the super fine details of baseball, but it all looked familiar. The pace of the game was great – no dawdling while the batter adjusted his gloves over and over.
We were seated in the lower level along the first base line. By the time the game got started the place was full. Across from us there were two super fan areas – all in blue for the BayStars, in orange for the Giants.
While the players were certainly competitive, there was also more co-operation. Mascots came out together and did things together, and the cheerleaders for both teams performed together.
One thing there is in Japanese baseball is singing. There is a song for each team that the fans sing. But there is also a song for each player. Everyone sings the player’s song when they come up to bat. No DJ in the house pumping out random clips of music….
Here’s what it sounds like:
It was a fun day, a fun game and I’m glad we finally go to go!
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