yesterday i had the pleasure of attending my third baseball game in japan.  the home team is the osaka orix buffaloes (sorry, no english).

i have yet to attend a hanshin tigers game, which from what i have seen and heard, the crowd itself is supposed to be as much of an entertainment as the game itself.  apparently every single game is sold out.  every fan is a raging fanatic.  :)  there are two teams in japan that stand out with regards to popularity and winning percentage.  one is the tigers, the other is the yomiuri giants.

some stark differences in japan.  for example, every team is owned by a company.  hence the names orix (financial services), hanshin (trains, department stores, etc.), and yomiuri (newspaper).  each team can have a maximum of three foreign players, plus one pitcher.  though i am not sure, it seems like every team is maxed out.  the limit makes since, you don’t want a japanese league full of foreigners.

another significant difference is that they allow patrons to bring in food and drinks.  up to one beer per person, so everyone buys the largest cans, which are 500 ml (~17 oz.).  the other great thing is this:

girls walk around with beer kegs strapped to their backs.  how sweet is that!

most of the cheering and chanting is coordinated.  at the home of more popular teams this goes on for the entirety of the game and it’s coordinated by certain people in the stands that work for the team.  kind of takes the fun out of spontaneous excitement.

obama decided to show up.  he wanted everyone to know that “yes we can”.

this is matsui, 松井.  he’s the slugger on the new york yankees team. he’s nickname is godzilla, hence the background image in this coffee ad hanging in the train.  i’m 6’3″ (190 cm), so this picture was taken at about eye level.  i’m always ducking in japan.  :)

if you are sitting in the foul ball or home run area, they have these warnings on the back of the seats.  because of the swine flu they were also doing warnings over the load speakers and walking around with signs requesting not using balloon jets.  everyone inflates and releases them after the 7th inning for a pretty cool effect and some noise.  these elongated balloons go flying around the stadium.  well, they don’t want people “spraying” their swine flu germs all over the crowd so they are now banned.

this mascot was advertising new food products.  this is ms. bacon.  it’s difficult to tell, but that is asparagus wrapped in bacon on her head.  there were two mascots and they were both getting mulled by kids.  punching, squeezing, pushing, whatever.

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