yakyuu

Yakyuu - You can get curry at a baseball game?

I love baseball, so I was thrilled at the chance to see a professional baseball game in Japan. I went to two different games. The first was to see the Yokohama Bay Stars vs. Chunichi Dragons (Dragons won) at Yokohama Stadium (pictured to the left) The other was an exhibition game between American All-Stars vs. Japanese All-Stars (America won) at Tokyo Dome.

Baseball is baseball, right? How different can it be in another country? I was surprised by the difference, not so much in the game, but in the spectator's experience.

It started when I looked around at what people were eating. I didn't see hotdogs, popcorn, nachos, cotton candy, ice cream bars and other comfort foods of home. Instead, people were eating things like beautifully prepared sushi and curry rice and yakiniku, all in nicely arranged little bento boxes. People at the game were eating better than I cooked in my own home. Amazing.

Just as the game was about to start, and just like in the good ol' USA, the national anthem started playing. It seemed that no one heard it, as they continued chatting and munching. No one stood, no one looked up at the flag, no one removed his hat, and certainly no one put hand on heart and sang along. Japanese don't get all patriotic at the sight of their flag or the sound of their national anthem like most Americans have been trained to react. When I saw the US team play the Japanese team at the second game I went to, they played both the Japanese and the American national anthems. I'm sure that all 10 - 20 of us Americans got strange looks as we stood and sang during our national anthem, hand on our chests and eyes on the flag.

Cheering like a fool at a ballgame is something I think was passed down to me genetically by my mom. Imagine my surprise when I found myself yelling all alone. People don't just cheer as the spirit moves them at Japanese baseball games. Everyone cheers the same chants in perfect unison, all led by the guy with the flag. I brought a Japanese friend to a ballgame here in the States and she was shocked by this more than anything. She even told me that they had done a study once in which the fans were completely silent, and many of the Japanese baseball players said that they would prefer it that way. Wow. I can't imagine a silent baseball game.

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