Vicarious Japanese: Ohhhhh Hanshin Tigers

One of the goals before leaving was to attend a Japanese baseball game. I never knew the wonders until I saw that insufferable Anthony Bourdain - even despite his presence, I thought the game look captivating. As soon as I got here, I realized that tickets would be next to impossible to come by because their fans are a little bit crazy and every game sells out. Thankfully I work for a school that caters to wealthier kids, with wealthier parents. My friend and roommate from training, TJ, sent me a message and asked if I wanted to go to a game. Quicker than Jamie Lynn Spears got preg-o again, I told him I would love to attend. So I was going to the final home regular season game for the Hanshin Tigers against the Hiroshima Carp. I met TJ, Sara and two of their Japanese teacher friends and we made our way from Kobe to Koshien (15 minute local train). For those who've been to both, Wrigley and Fenway just sorta come out of nowhere..."oh, there's a stadium." After stepping out of the train station, I knew we were close - after all there were thousands of people dressed in jerseys and awesome pants (see below) but I had no idea where the park was. We walked seemingly closer and closer and people kept funneling in towards one place but I was still a bit confused. A little bit ahead and above us were a few highways and a set of train tracks that were concrete over a green base. And behind the highways/train tracks, there was the stadium. It couldn't have been more than fifty feet tall and camouflaged perfectly because the outside was the same green as the highway and we arrived at dusk on a rainy night.

After stopping at the souvenir shop, we were ready to go inside. The inside of the stadium is hard to describe. The concession area was terribly narrow and they had ramps leading into the gates. People were crammed like sardines - some waiting in long long lines for food, some in the designated smoking area (I wish I had a picture of this - it was more ridiculous than smoking rooms at airports), women waiting in winding lines or men walking into the barely-covered urinal rooms. It's not everyday you go to a stadium and dudes are just peeing while people walk behind them. Finally we headed to our seats. The park looks like a glorified minor league park - except the capacity was over 50,000. Rain was coming down softly but steadily but no one could care less. That, in itself, is surprising because the Japanese usually freak out when there's rain - they run everywhere with umbrellas like the next great typhoon is nearing. But at the baseball game, it's just part of the event I guess. One thing I noticed right away was that the covered seats in the park (basically between home/first and home/third) were maybe 2/3 full and the uncovered seats were almost totally occupied. I know in America - if there are open seats near the field, we jump on those lickity split...especially if they're covered and it's raining but not here. I am not sure if it's an issue of honoring the ticket or if it's because the main cheering sections were located in the outfield - I would buy either reason as valid.

Before I knew what happened, the game started. There was no national anthem. There really isn't much stadium-created pageantry and the PA guy was very muted when he announced the first batter. After Hanshin got out of the top of the first, the cheering started and it did not quit until the end of the Hanshin half-inning. We were given these plastic little Fred Flinstone bat things and you bang them together like a boom stick. I find this annoying in America because it's a passing fancy that distracts people into paying attention - like "the wave". In Japan, I was OK with it and participated fully because....everyone does. There is singing, rhythmic bat banging, cheering and chanting and it's non-stop. Each hitter has his own songs and all of the fans know and sing them. I worried about this beforehand because I didn't want to be given dirty looks but once you've heard one, they're pretty much all the same. One of the standards they use was a song that centered around the phrase "Ka-toe-bah-say (player's name)" - "katobase" means essentially "get a hit." The game continued in this pattern until the middle of the 7th - it was balloon time. During the top of the inning, everyone began blowing up their penis looking balloons. So we waited and waited while the American pitching for the Tigers allowed a run and made the inning excruciatingly long. Finally it was time, the Hanshin Tigers fight song started, most people sang...my friends and I mumbled until the "Oh-oh-oh-oh Hanshin Tigers....fure fure fure fure" part and then people let the balloons go. It creates a really cool look with a bunch of multi-colored penis balloons flying up and then coming down. I only wish I performed better. My balloons must have had a problem with premature ejaculation because they went up and then right down. I was left disappointed and unfulfilled, but the spectacle was pretty cool. So, the Tigers got a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 8th by their superstar, Kanemoto, and won 5-3. All in all, just a once in a lifetime event and I can't wait to get back next season. So I've included some photos but before I stop the writing, let me tell you about the greatest curse I've ever heard of:

In 1985, much to Japanese people's surprise, the Hanshin Tigers faced the Seibu Lions and took their first and only victory in the Japan Series, largely due to star slugger Randy Bass, a gaijin (foreigner) player for the team.

The rabid fan base went wild, and a riotous celebration gathered at Ebisubashi Bridge in Dotonbori, Osaka. There, an assemblage of supporters yelled the players names, and with every name a fan resembling a member of the victorious team leapt from the bridge into the waiting canal. However, lacking someone to imitate MVP Randy Bass, the rabid crowd seized a Colonel Sanders (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese) plastic statue from a nearby KFC and tossed it off the bridge as an effigy.

This impulsive maneuver was to cost the team greatly, beginning the Curse of the Colonel. Urban legend has it that the Tigers will not win the championship again until the statue is recovered. Also at KFC restaurants in the Kansai region, the Colonel is either chained to the stores or brought inside.