Friday night, people came streaming out of the Ginza metro line.
This “catch man” was hawking his offer…
…for bento boxes, including noodles and edamame.
This man had a few extra tickets…
… to Jingu Stadium, home of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, where they were about to take on their cross-town rivals, Yomiuri Giants. The intimate Jingu Stadium is perfectly nestled in the heart of Tokyo and comfortably seats 37,933 (80% cheering for the Swallows, while the Giants fans were relegated to one section of the outfield bleachers).
Baseball was introduced in Japan in the 1930’s. In fact, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played exhibition games here in 1934 to help build popularity for the sport.
There are 12 professional teams in Japan, divided between the Central and Pacific Leagues. Generally speaking, there are three parts to each team name: The city, the corporate sponsor, and the team nickname (for example, Yakult is a yogurt company).
Team names include Tigers, Giants, Golden Eagles, Buffalos, Lions and Hawks. Other team names are Bay Stars, Ham Fighters, and my favorite name, Carp. Yes, the Carp play in Hiroshima at Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium.
The Giants are the “NY Yankees of baseball” here in Japan with 22 championships. They have deep pockets and buy the best players.
The 25-man roster team cannot have more than four foreign players. The Swallows lineup includes Wladimir Balentien (formerly of the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds) and Logan Ondrusek, a former Reds player.
This is playoff season and the Swallows and Giants are in the midst of a best of six series (no, that’s not a typo). Since the Swallows won their division during the 143 game regular season, they are awarded one win before the Climax Series begins. Therefore, the Swallows only need to win three games whereas the Giants need to win four before progressing onto the All Nippon Series, the Japanese version of the World Series. [As an aside, it’s a bit hyperbolic to think that only two countries are eligible to compete in the “World” Series].
Japanese baseball has all the elements an American fan would recognize, including a program guide…
…t-shirts…
… and food.
Although, this food requires chop sticks.
Liquid refreshment is also important, and it’s carried by this women.
Beer is poured fresh from the backpack.
The team mascot, Tsubakuro Swallow, was quite active throughout the game…
…and he knows all the cheerleading moves.
The fans of both teams cheered enthusiastically throughout all nine innings, aided by pairs of hollow plastic bats that created a thunderous beat with thousands of fans striking them in rhythmic unison.
There were songs and chants throughout the game, mostly in Japanese, but also with plenty of English mixed in. I will always remember chanting, “Let’s go Nakamura!”
The fan favorite chant is, “Go Go Swallows!”
The one aspect that varies from American baseball involves rain. It rains frequently in Japan, and Friday night was no exception. Rain came down, heavily at times, during the entire second half of the game, however there were no delays.
The fans all came equipped with umbrellas and rain jackets and maintained their high level of enthusiasm throughout.
And the players continued the game without hesitation.
During the 7th inning stretch, a Japanese song played and dancing umbrellas ensued…
… it was a sea of dancing umbrellas.
Eight of us from the office enjoyed watching the Swallows defeat the Giants 2 – 0 Friday night.
Update: The Swallows defeated the Giants again Saturday night to advance to the Nippon Series where they will face the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Enjoy. ts
Ukrainian Tom 