Baseball Korean Version!

I seriously love the crowds at the baseball games in Japan and so I was so super excited when Ryan told me that he got us tickets to the Lotte Giants. First, if anyone knows sports why are all of the teams named the Giants (San Franscico, Tokyo, and Busan) all the same color, coincidence or planned?

The game was awesome and it was a sold out crowd who were ready to cheer, they were ready to go because one of their players had 10 homeruns in 10 games. We had awesome seats but they were directly in the sun; we even had a little table in front of us! Another amazing experience at the baseball game, seriously if you go to Asia go to a baseball game!

I was rooting for the bat girls; they were wearing leg warmers (?!?!!) and pink helmets. Every time they ran out there they ran like their ankles were weighted down. It was hysterical and so weird.

Where Japan has beer girls Korea has this guy.

The fans make pompoms out of newspaper; they were everywhere!

Ryan showing off his new shirt!

At the 7th inning they give out these garbage bags; well, everyone takes them and blows them up and puts them on their heads?!!? I seriously have no lung capacity and would still be there trying to blow it up if Ryan didn't stop laughing long enough to give me his. Some people even get fancy and make Minnie Mouse ears out of them.

They bring out the relief pitcher in a car.

Holly brusing her wig in the car after the game!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game Part 2

One of the things that I wanted to do with my friends was a baseball game. Bridget and I went to one in Tokyo and when I was in Korea (more to come on that later) I went to one and honestly I feel like they are a must do if you ever come here. I used to go Nats games but I never really watched the game, to be honest the last few times I went (a few seasons ago) I basically hung out at the bar that overlooked the field but here you have no choice but to get into it!

When Bridget and I were in Tokyo we were (extremly) lucky to have the concierge at Conrad get our tickets for us. When they offered us the choice of getting our own tickets or having them get them it was a no brainer, we were living it up and being lazy! O how I miss you Conrad concierge! On base I am very fortunate to have Hiroe, she is wonderful and is our Information and Referral specialist. Hiroe is also one of my coworkers so at one of our morning meetings, which are inappropriately called 10 minutes together since the average meeting is about an hour, I asked her how to get tickets. In order to buy tickets for baseball games you have to buy them at a convenience store: Family Mart, 7-11, Lawsons but my 6 words of Japanese are not sufficient for this task. Hiroe wrote it out for me in Japanese and I walked into 7-11 and just handed the paper over and the lovely 7-11 employee just did everything for me and even somehow translated name when I said it to him. There are two types of tickets: reserved tickets and unreserved; the difference is with unreserved tickets you don't actually have a seat but you have to stand in line (maybe for a few hours) and when the gates open you might be lucky enough to get a seat. I was very very fortunate to get reserved seats in the right outfield because I was told it was sold out.

The game was awesome though the Hiroshima Carps lost! However, just like Tokyo the fans are totally 150% into the game. The difference here is that we were BAKING in the sun but when the sun finally went down it was so nice out.

It was so hot out and the Japanese wear these sweat towels on their heads or around their necks. I bought one for Andrea because she was definitely not fairing well in the sun, ummmmmm aren't I the pale one?!?! So Happy Birthday Andrea!

At the 7th inning each team fills up these balloons, does a routine with them, and then lets them go into the air and then people clear them off the field. I was unsure of when to actually do this so I told Alison to do it but it was too early and she let hers go when the other team did. I figured it out (too late) that you do it at the 7th inning right before your team goes up to bat. The winning team also did it again at the end of the game. There was a little girl (maybe around 7) sitting in front of us with her mom and brothers and she kept looking at me like I had 4 heads so I decided to be nice and give her our extra one (they come in a 4 pack). At first she shook her head and looked at her mom and her mom smiled and gigled and told her she could take it so she did and she had the biggest smile on her face. At one point she had 2 and kept playing with them, I really enjoyed watching her with it!

We couldn't figure out the reason why the Hiroshima Carp mascot looks just like the Philly Fanatic.

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!








Tokyo Giants version of the terrible towels!


A Keg girl


Super Fan - I think he caught me taking his picture!