After several failed attempts at buying Orix Buffaloes or Hanshin Tigers tickets at our local conbini, we finally got a set for a fine Friday evening game at the Osaka Dome to watch the Buffaloes take on the Hokaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. This worked out perfect, because our friend Steve was in town for his first trip to Japan and Asia. I'm not sure what you've heard about baseball in Japan, but people go pretty crazy at the games. Some major differences we noticed: soccer-like cheering sections complete with drums/horns/songs/drunkeness, cheerleaders, a first pitch ritual that involved a live batter trying to hit the pitch, crazy cramped seats even in the lower infield areas.
After getting a serious buzz started at the Yamazaki Whiskey Distillery earlier in the day, we headed further on south into Osaka for a Friday evening game. Upon arrival at the stadium, we noticed several people entering the stadium with bags full of food and beverages in paper cartons (like half gallon milk cartons). Nobody seemed to have bottles or cans, just paper drink boxes- this got us thinking about our strategy prior to entering the game; perhaps we too should participate in the practice of bringing in outside beverages in an effort to keep the drink bill a bit lower. A little background- in Japan, sake (rice wine), shochu (distilled rice spirits), and umeshu (plum wine) are all served in paper cartons and all are available at very reasonable prices at any conbini.
After loading up on umeshu and beer at the conbini, we cracked a few cans of beer (open container laws are non-existent) and walked toward the entrance of the Osaka Dome. Upon closer inspection, we noticed people were also bringing cans into the stadium with the exception that they had to pour the cans into paper cups (provided by Osaka Dome). Taking it one step further, some people had so much beer that they filled multiple paper cups and were provided by Osaka Dome crews with a cardboard cup carrier to transport the liquid goodness safely to their seats. I don't know if we've discussed the high level of customer service in Japan, but this typifies the respect given to customers. Anyways, we had a few extra beers unopened in addition to our boxed umeshu, so we poured our beer into the provided cups and took to our seats.
At the Osaka Dome, the seats we had were between home and first, about 12 rows up. By US standards, these would be $100+ seats. In Japan, we paid about $40 each, which seemed like a screaming deal. Unfortunately, like most things in Japan, the seats were tiny and offered up almost no legroom. Regardless, we settled in for the singing of the national anthem and the start of the game.
About half way through the game, we decided to head to the cheering section (right field). People openly welcomed us into this section and started to teach us the dances and songs almost immediately. I think they were just excited to have new people rooting for their otherwise terrible baseball team.
Overall, we had a great time at the game despite the Buffaloes poor performance. Next up is a trip to Koshien Stadium to see the Hanshin Tigers play.
