Land of Tomorrow : Hanshin Tigers!

Finally got to have a first hand experience of a Japanese baseball game. Today at 2pm the Hanshin Tigers played the Nagoya Dragons in the Koshien Stadium. It was an excited game, with the Dragons starting strong and the Tigers taking it in the end. All afternoon the weather oscillated between intense sun and rain; combined I think that makes good weather. The Japanese don't have American football and I think that perhaps they express some of football's intense fan energy during their baseball games. There are trumpets and taiko drums which supply a constant feed of songs and rhythms to the entire stadium which echoes them by pounding plastic bats. Every Hanshin Tiger has their own theme song as does the team. I was told that we'll be playing their theme song later in the year.

The game moves more slowly, every pitch deliberated. When it is time for a new pitcher, a gate in the outfield opens and an electric car drives to the mound to deliver him. The bull pen must be elsewhere. During the 7th inning, everyone inflates a large balloon and after the third out of the home team, they do a little balloon dance and then release them all at once into the air. It's a pretty incredible sight.

And in the end we won! I think this is pretty cool because the team is second to last in the league, 31.5 games from first place. The slogan for the Hanshin Tigers used to be, "Focus on this play, this moment," but this year it's, "Go for the top!"

Really the spectacle of the crowd is more of the experience than the game itself, though that is worth it, too. Thus, none of the pictures below feature the actual field. But I think you'll get the idea.