06/13 - Baseball
Tonight Ry, Taka-san, Nozomi-san, and I went to a Chiba Rotte Marines baseball
game. Many of the other American students didn't go because "baseball is
boring" and most of the Chiba University students didn't go because they
were busy with class and club activities.
On the Contrary
I don't like baseball, really, at all. But it's Japan, it's a baseball country
so I've heard. When Takahashi-sensei offered the tickets to everyone in the class
on Tuesday, and no one accepted, I was pretty amazed. I wanted to go badly, just
once, to experience Japanese baseball. Well we ended up going us four, and we
have to say it was anything but boring.
Fan Chorus
In the outfield there was a group of about 400-500 fans, all sitting together
in the same section, coordinating cheer after cheer for each team. There is nothing
of this sort at US baseball games, and so I think this shows sort of a sense of
conjoined unity that is characteristic of Japanese culture. Japanese fans all
cheer together, as a group, for their team, their group. It was very cool to see
a group of so many fans all dressed similarly and jumping and chanting in unison.
Sellers in the Stands
One of the most fun things we did is take a ton of pictures with the people selling
beer to fans in the stands. Contrary to the fat American guy selling cups of beer,
99% of the people were cute Japanese girls with mini-kegs on their backpacks.
I ended up drinking 5 beers because Ry and I wanted to take pictures with as many
as possible. We got two Asahi, one Kirin, one Sapporo, and one Coke. They were
all very willing to take pictures, which I think supports that Japanese females
really like to take pictures in general, and they all thought that us saying it
was our first time at a Japanese baseball game was very cute. Baseball is boring,
or slow, to many Americans, and so we concluded that having incredibly bright
clothes wearing cute young women would draw more people to the sport.
I'd Go Again
Going to a Japanese baseball game was definitely a very fun experience. I'm glad
I didn't sit either around campus and do nothing or at home and do nothing like
some people decided to do. Like I said and like many of the people who didn't
go, I don't really like baseball as a sport, but great company, great times, and
some beer can make a baseball game very, very, meccha, fun.