Runaway Cubicle: Take me out to the ballpark!

One of the things that Bridget and I planned to do from the beginning was to go to a Japanese Baseball game and thanks to our hotel we were able to get tickets to the Tokyo Giants at the Tokyo Dome. We were able to see the Tokyo Giants play the Lions; I have been told that this would be equivalent to a Yankees vs. Mets game. When you come out of the train station you see a huge dome, we thought it was weird to go to a game inside of a dome but it was pretty cool, across from the dome is an amusement park and they have a roller coaster that gore thru a ferris wheel there. We decided to walk around the dome just take everything in; this included people selling bento boxes in front of the dome. One of the weirdest things we saw was a young girl, probably about 8, got her head stuck in between the railing and the wall. I guess she thought it was a pretty cool idea to see if she could fit it, I guess her mom didn’t stop her, but she couldn’t get it out. The interesting thing about this scene was how everyone seemed to ignore it, we seemed to be the only people watching it, and how the stadium workers and the girl’s mother just seemed to take it all in stride. We were surprised that it all took to free her was two of the worker putting their legs onto the railing and pulling toward them and she was able to slip her head out.

Now once we got into the game the fun began. We walked around looking for some food and they didn’t have your typical U.S. stadium food, bento boxes were a plenty, but I was able to find some pizza. Now in the US pizza at baseball stadiums would be a personal pan pizza for around $7 or $8; however, here it ended up being two small slices (probably equivalent to half a pan pizza but flat) for 7 or 8 yen. Another weird thing is that in Japan you cannot smoke in freely in public; instead, they confine all the smokers in one small space and this was true at the Tokyo dome. In the basement of the Tokyo dome, where some of the food is located, is also where the smoking box is. So just imagine walking in a basement at a game and looking to the right and all you see in a glass box with people standing and smoking inside.

Once at our seats, o they are smaller seats with hardly any leg room, we began to notice something very interesting. Instead of asking people in our row to move in order to get or leave your seat they would jump over empty seats throughout the rows; it was normal to see a man in a suit start two rows up and jump over empty seats in a zig zag fashion in order to get to the seat next to you. I have been to baseball games in the US and so I am used to people coming around and selling beer in the stands, well the Japanese have a different take on that, they have keg girls. Keg girls are exactly what they sound like, they are girls who have mini kegs strapped on their backs and they walk up and down, in the beginning of the game a lot faster and with a lot more pep then in the 9th inning, selling beer. Each beer company has their own girls so there are many of them walking around in bright neon outfits and baseball hats; Bridget noticed something very interesting about these hats, instead of having the hair on and pulling their pony tails through they had the back half of the hat folded under and the hat was then bobby pinned to their head.

Now to the game and the fans, the fans were like no fans I have ever seen at a baseball game in the US instead, I think they would be equivalent to European soccer fans. Before the game even started they started with their chants, their hand gestures, and their clapping toys. These are all well organized and well choreographed but the amazing thing is that every single fan in that stadium seemed to know them and they did them all in perfect unison. This even included using the Giants version of the terrible towel when they scored runs. Behind us was the most amazing fan I have ever seen in my life, he was probably about 16 and was there by himself and he did not stop screaming, chanting, and clapping for the entire game. When he did take breaks, when it was the other team’s turn, he looked beat. I would be shocked if he had a voice at all the next week. He was the best super fan ever, I wanted to him bottle him up and take him home. I feel like he definitely could have a career being a super fan. What also was amazing that even though the Lions were down by 8 they still chanted until the very last second.

If you ever get the chance to go to a Japanese baseball game take it because it was an amazing and surreal experience; hey, you can even get standing room only tickets!