Seventh Inning Sushi

Ironic sunset in the the "Land of the Rising Sun"

The Japanese wife of Comic Book Guy, the iconic character from The Simpsons, once said, "In Japan, no one ever says what they think.  We know our game shows are degrading and our baseball fences are too close.  But no one says anything."  

The Girlfriend and I travelled to Japan last week and seeing a Japanese baseball game sat number one on my list of things to do.  Most Americans know the league for its famous differences from its American cousin; team names are corporate sponsors not cities, choreographed cheering sections, and ties after 12 innings.  Tokyo's home to six of the 12 teams in the league, and most foreigners with a vague familiarity of the league will know the Yomuiri Giants and the Yakult Swallows.  Many people consider the Yomuiri Giants to be the Yankees of Japanese baseball, and the team has a strong rivalry with the Hanshin Tigers.  I decided to checkout a Swallows game for a few reasons.  One, I didn't want to indirectly support a team labelled the "evil empire" of Japanese baseball, and second the Swallows have a great stadium.  Only one of three remaining professional stadiums left where Babe Ruth played, the stadium sits next to a large Shinto Shrine dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife.  

It isn't baseball without cheerleaders

One of the official cheer coordinators 

I got tickets in the outfield section for around 15USD a seat for a game between the Swallows and the DeNA (sic) Baystars.  Warning, I don't advise buying outfield tickets to a Japanese baseball game.  While it seemed like a good idea at the time, the outfield bleachers are home to the choreographed cheering sections.  Tickets here mean standing while the home team bats.  The cheers are, of course, in Japanese, so don't expect to pick them up halfway through the game.  We ended up moving about halfway through the game, but it's certainly worth a trip to the outfield bleachers to checkout the spectacle.  The sections even boast full-time cheer coordinators.  Its here you can see some of the game's great quarks.  For example the people sitting in front of us wore matching Swallows kimonos.    

Awesome team kimonos

Aside from the differences that I expected, some other things peeked my interest. The seats in the ballpark fill up the opposite they do in the United States with tickets for the outfield (cheap seats) selling first.  Not many people sat in the grandstand at the game we attended.  Also, the teams downplay individual stats.  I don't remember seeing anyone's batting average or ERA posted on the jumbotron.  The event truly reinforced my perceptions of Japanese society as "collectivist", though I stress this isn't a bad thing.  They play as a team, win as a team, and lose as a team, and the fans share in the success or failure of the team.  

After the home run

The game we saw was awesome.  Down by one run in the bottom of the eight, bases loaded with two outs, a Swallows player hit a home run over the right field fence.  I let out a loudly obnoxious, "YEEEEEahh," only to hear my voice echo in silence for a full second before the choreographed home run cheer started from the Swallows fans.  That is the great thing about Japanese baseball, the game is the same, but the atmosphere made it sometimes felt like they were playing on another planet.  

Post game cheerleader show

So maybe the fences are too close, but the game ended up being the highlight of my trip.  It really got me excited for the start of the Royals-Giants Worlds Series next week.  But more on that in a future post.