To celebrate my birthday and to say goodbye, one of my
favorite professors with whom I did research invited me to a Japanese baseball
game. She and her husband are avid baseball fans both in the U.S. and in Japan
and attend several games a week during the season. Since I had never been to a
baseball game in Japan and it was a chance to go with experienced fans, I
accepted the invitation without hesitation.
The game was on a Friday night and the metro ride to the
stadium took over an hour as it was located on the outskirts of the city. We
had tickets for watching the Marines and sat in the rowdy fan section. It was a
beautiful night for baseball and I was excited to compare how the sport was
played between Japan and the U.S.
Although I’m not an avid fan of baseball in the States, it
was still fascinating to note some of the differences between American and
Japanese baseball. First, the fan sections for each team were incredibly rowdy
– it was the most noise, emotion and hype that I’d witnessed during my entire
stay in Japan. There was not chaos or rude/obnoxious behavior, however and all
of the fans’ noise, chants and actions were carefully led and choreographed by
the fan leader who had a trumpet and a microphone and was located on a concrete
podium in the middle of the stands. There were chants, songs and dances for
each player and also for each action during the game. Each fan section stood
and chanted only when their team was up to bat. There was never any
complaining, bad-mouthing or questioning of the referee’s calls or for actions
of the opposing team. By about the 5th inning, I was exhausted from
shouting and jumping around while trying to hang with the fan section and all
of their cheers and dances. One other thing about the fan section was that
every single person was wearing the same clothes – the home jersey of their
favorite player.
A second interesting difference was all of the flair present
during the game. For example, we started off with a rousing routine by the team’s
cheerleaders who tumbled and waved their pom poms on the field. After the 5th
inning, there was an impressive fireworks display and after the 7th
inning we all got long white balloons to blow up and release at a certain time.
Fan sections had a significant amount of props that they used such as stuffed
animals, towels, signs, umbrellas and banners to support their team. Finally,
each team had their own pep band in the fan section as well.
The most interesting part of the baseball culture for me was
the plethora of the “beer girls”, which were beautiful, young Japanese women
who sold beer by walking around in the stands during the game. Each one wore an
attractive and eye-catching outfit that represented their brand. They wore
heavy kegs on their back with taps that sat in their belt. They also wore knee
pads because when we ordered beers, they would come over, kneel on the ground
and pour us our drinks from their mobile keg.
A final difference was the type of food that was sold.
Surprisingly, in Japan, we could bring in our own food and drinks to the
stadium without a problem. However, there were several tasty and affordable
options available as well both outside the stadium in cheap street food stands
and inside the stadium at the confection booths. We bought our food outside
from the food stands and loaded up on sausages, fried noodles, giant pickled
cucumbers on a stick and fried chicken. At the booths inside, there were
traditional Japanese soups and meals and snacks like shaved ice. The most popular
drink was one that held all the flavor in its ice cubes and then soda water was
added and stirred. As the ice cubes melted, the flavor became stronger and
stronger.
