Going to a baseball game in Japan

Watching baseball at Tokyo's Meiji Jingu Stadium

Focusing on the visiting Hanshin Tigers' pitcher

In the stands, the beer girls (and boys) also
are frequently called to action

Puppet Ponyo in the crowd and gamely clutching
two baseball bats (that actually are more for
making lots of noise than batting any balls) ;b

Before I left for Japan three Saturdays ago now, I e-mailed a friend living in Tokyo to arrange to meet. Since we share a fondness for beer and izakayas, I knew we'd be meeting up for drinks and more at those Japanese establishments I tend to think of as Japanese cousins of British pubs and Spanish tapas bars. But over the course of our e-mail correspondence, she also managed to convince me that an evening watching Japanese baseball would also make for a good time and an interesting cultural experience.

Thus it was that I -- whose first sport of choice is association football rather than anything else -- found myself at the open air Meiji Jingu Stadium one beautiful evening taking in a game between the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and the team she supports, the Hanshin Tigers, with her and a group of her Japan-based friends.

Sitting in the Hanshin Tigers fans' section of the stadium, the neutrals among us got into the spirit of things and became Hanshin Tigers fans for at least a night. Because even though the team playing away from home may have been second best on the field that night, their fans amply and admirably demonstrated that their enthusiasm and loyalty were second to none -- that is, when their attention wasn't being diverted towards procuring and downing the plentiful beer on sale in the stadium and munching assorted snacks including edamame and takoyaki along with popcorn!!

Although I happily amused myself watching the crowd and talking with my friend and her friends during some of the time that I was in the stadium, I actually found myself more interested and involved in watching the game than I thought I would be. One major factor was that the overall atmosphere was far more spirited than at the one previous baseball game I had watched live -- decades ago at a game in Beloit, Wisconsin, involving the Beloit Brewers (the Milwaukee Brewers' farm team). Another factor probably was that, even if it did not approached American major league level, the game quality still was higher than than that of the American minor leagues.

All in all, Puppet Ponyo -- who was happy to pose with Hanshin Tigers fan paraphernalia but most definitely was not about to try catching any stray balls that got hit our way, despite my friend's urgings -- and I had a pretty fine time at the ballgame. So much so that we can definitely see why the Frommer's Guide has attending a baseball game second on its The Best of Modern Japan list and would agree that "Watching a game with a stadium full of avid [Japanese] fans can be quite fun and can shed new light on America's favorite pastime." :b