| Koshien Stadium |
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Baseball fans here are amazing. Nothing at all like North American fans. I'm sorry to say that I now believe that Japanese fans are much more fun. Throughout the entire game they were shouting, singing, and chanting. Scattered throughout the stands were people with drums, trumpets and large flags. Near the bottom of the stands were conductors, people who lead the drums and trumpets and the crowd in singing each of the songs. Each batter on the Tigers has a particular song or chant and it looked like they were available on the internet to print off and bring along if you happened to not be a normal fan and not have it
| Blowing up the ballons in the 7th inning |
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settled back down on the crowd and field. Workers ran onto the field and had the balloons cleaned up in 2 minutes, then on with the game.
At the end of the game, it is customary for the "star(s)" of the game to say something to the crowd. So, unlike a ball game back home, there was no mad dash to the exits in the 8th or 9th innings. Everyone stayed there and waited to hear from the player. He got up on a box and was asked questions by the announcer then addressed the crowd. After that, everyone left singing and chanting. Outside the stadium there were groups of people celebrating the win with more singing.
| The balloons flyin' |
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On Tuesday, April 30th, we went to see the Hanshin Tigers play at Koshien Stadium near our house. (a 10 minute bike ride and 5 minute train ride from our house) We got there early and waited in line to get tickets. The stadium itself looks pretty old. The outside is red brick with ivy growing all over it. It felt like a ball game, but it was missing the ball park franks! There were no vendors outside the park and no hot dogs anywhere! That's half the reason for going to a game, the hot dog! We settled for some udon soup with large noodles and seaweed and other things that we don't want to know about. It turned out we were there in time to see the batting practice so we were able to relax and watch the staduim fill up with people.
| The crowd early in the game |
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memorized already. It was almost more fun watching the crowd than the game! Even the foriegn players have their own chant ... a little song then "Let's go George" (but pronounced [Georg][ee]).
The seventh inning was the highlight of the night (besides the Tigers winning 4-0). Everyone blows up large "turbo" balloons that have special plastic whistling tips. A young guy next to us noticed we hadn't bought any and was nice enough to give us two of his. At the middle of the seventh inning, there was a song with the trumpets and drums and then everyone released the balloons. A mass of balloons rose into the air, whistling all the way, then
| Waiting for the middle of the 7th. |
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It was quite an experience to see the enthusiasm that these people put into the game. Their loyalty to the Home Team no matter what is going on in the game was incredible.
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