After four hours of riding Shinkansens, we arrived in Hiroshima to see the Cincinnati Reds, errr, I mean the Hiroshima Carp take on the Hashin Tigers at Mazada Zoom-Zoom Stadium. I personally think that Mazada Zoom-Zoom Stadium is the coolest name of all the ballparks in the NPB – if for no other reason than it made we want to keep repeating “Zoom, Zoom” like the Mazada commercials in the US everytime the Carp scored a run. The Carp uniforms have a strong resemblance to the Cincinnati Reds in the United States and their mascot – Slyly – looks a lot like the Phillies Phanatic. According to fellow JapanBall tripper and blogger Susan Hamaker – the mascots were made by the same company.
The stadium is less than a year old and also has a similar feel to many of the new Major League Baseball stadiums in the US. There are open concourses, lots of food choices (including donuts and hot dogs!), wide seats, and real grass. Amazingly, only 3 of the 12 stadiums actively used by the NPB have real grass surfaces. The rest all have field turf. If it weren’t for the incredibly spirited oedan for each team, I would have thought for sure I was watching a game at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati instead of in Hiroshima.
Great American Ballpark - I mean - Mazada Zoom Zoom Stadium
The game itself was led from begining to end by the Tigers but the Carp kept things interesting with a seventh run rally that brought them within two runs of the Tigers. However, the Carp pitching could not keep the Tigers off the board as they added several insurance runs to win the game. Tomorrow is an off day from baseball as we will explore the sites in around Hiroshima. The next game is Tuesday evening in Osaka. See you then!
Question of the Day
Q: Does the NPB have a farm league? – Mike
A. The short answer is yes, but it is a bit different from the minor league baseball system in the US. There is one level of minor league teams but the teams aren’t used for player development like they are in the US. For the most part, players start immediately with the big club once they are signed to a team and are expected to contribute soon whereas in the US, most players would have several years in the minors before even being considered for the Majors unless they are a rare star (see Ken Griffey Jr as an example).
Game two of the trip takes us to Yokohama to see the BayStars host the Yakult Swallows from nearby Tokyo. Before we left Sendai, however, we had a chance to have a brief meeting with Marty Kuehnert. Mr. Kuehnert was the first American to be named as a general manager of a NPB team. He speaks fluent Japanese and has also spent time as baseball broadcaster and author. He is currently a consultant to the Eagles. (Check out his site here)
Yokohama Stadium
The JapanBall crew found our way back to the Shinkansen for our travel south to Yokohama. When we arrived, we had several hours before the game. There are some interesting sites to see in Yokohama including the areas right next to the stadium. On the southern side of the stadium is Chinatown and the areas east of the stadium take you to the waterfront. There are also a number of restaurants to grab some food before the game. The stadium itself is located in a small park which gives what is a rather bland circular stadium an attractive facade.
For the second night in a row, the game was rather one-sided. At least this time it was in favor of the home team which kept the crowd into the game. Yakult made it interesting by adding few runs late, but the BayStars won easily 9-4. Tomorrow is an early start as we head for Hiroshima to see the newest ballpark in the NPB – Mazada Zoom-Zoom Stadium – that opened last year.
Question of the Day
Q: I noticed on your trip itinerary that many of the team names don’t have the city in them which is different from the US. Why is that? – Erin
A: One of the differences between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball is the ownership structure. All teams are owned by corporations who use the baseball team as part of their advertising as opposed to the US where the teams are meant to be a stand alone for-profit operation. For this reason, many of the team names start with the company name and then the team nickname. For example, the Yomiuri Giants, one of the more popular teams in Japan, are owned by Yomiuri Shimbun which is a large media company in Japan. Some teams are trying to change this by adding the city or prefecture name to the begining of the team name. For example, tomorrow we see the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Thanks for the question!
Since I’ve traveled approximately 8,000 miles in the last 48 hours, it is finally time for the first baseball game of the trip. Today was a stop in the City of Trees in Sendai to see Kleenex Stadium Miyagi.
Before the game, we had a little time to take in the city. Since we only had a few hours, the quickest way to see the sites was using the Loople bus. The Loople bus takes a one hour round trip tour of the city where riders can get on and get off at their leisure. A small group of us took the bus to the grounds of the former Sendai Castle which sits on top of a hill overlooking the city.
Ballon time in the 7th inning
After our brief tour of Sendai, everyone took the short walk from the hotel to Kleenex Stadium Miyagi. The game between the Rakuten Golden Eagles and the visiting Seibu Lions wasn’t much of a contest – not a surprise considering that the Lions are fighting for first in the Pacific League while the Eagles are clinging to the bottom. The game did not get off to a good start by the home team as the starting pitcher walked the first four batters on 17 pitchers – allowing one run without the Lions needing a hit. The next batter, the Lions number five hitter, provided the first hit of the game which was deposited into the Eagles oendan (cheering section) in left field. At that point, the Lions led 5-0 by only having one hit. Things didn’t get much better as the Lions cruised to a lopsided 14-4 win in front a fairly packed Friday evening crowd at Kleenex Stadium Miyagi.
Question of the Day
Q: How long is the Japanese baseball season? – Ted
A: The Japanese baseball season is a bit shorter than the Major League Baseball season in the US. It runs 144 games starting late March/early April and ends in October with the playoffs. Typically, every Monday is an off day to make up for rain outs which is one of the reason the season still takes the same amount of time.
The trip has begun! I arrived in Tokyo a half hour ahead of schedule and met with the JapanBall crew at the airport. We took the Skyliner train from Narita Airport into Tokyo to our hotel for the night. Unlike my trip to Japan earlier in the year, there will be no games on the first night. Instead, I got to have dinner with the Prime Minister.
Ok, not really. But, the group convened for dinner at the JapanBall Hall of Fame and Café, better known as Café Noodle Roji. The owners of this establishment are husband and wife team June and Koko. Bob Bavasi, the trip coordinator, is convinced that June is former Japan Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. (See here) I can’t say for sure whether June was the Prime Minister, but we were treated to a fine meal and warm welcome to Japan.
Tomorrow it is off to Sendai and the first game of the trip!
Click here for information on the location and the menu of the JapanBall Cafe.
In 24 hours, I’ll be on a jet plane over to Tokyo to start the big baseball adventure. Since I will be visiting 11 of the 12 stadiums on this trip (I went to Chiba Marine Stadium in June), I thought if anyone had any questions about Japanese baseball or the stadiums I could do some research for them while I am on the trip. Feel free to send me an email on the Contact page and I’ll see if I can find the answer.
As I finish going through my final packing before I leave on the big JapanBall adventure on Wednesday, it will be fun to catch the future generation of ball players in Japan play for the Little League World Series title this afternoon against the team from Hawaii. Japan won the International Bracket yesterday with an exciting come from behind win in extra innings to defeat Chinese Taipei. The Little Leaguers from Tokyo were down by 1 in the bottom of the sixth and came back to tie the game on a pair of rare fielding errors and a solid single. They then scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh to advance to the championship game. Japan also reached the championship game in 2007 but lost in the finals. This years squad is going up against the team from Hawaii who won the championship in 2008. Japan’s Little League squads have played in nineteen LLWS and have won six championships – 1967, 1968, 1976, 1999, 2001, and 2003. Interestingly, so far only one player – Daisuke Araki – has ever won both a LLWS and a Japan Series. He played for the Yakult Swallows 1993 championship team and the 1976 LLWS champs from Chofu Little League.
Now, off to finish packing. See you from Sendai in a couple of days!
One the biggest sporting events in Japan is the annual Japanese High School Baseball Championship – referred to as Koshien. The 2010 edition is currently in full swing with the championship game coming up on August 22, 2010. The tournament features 49 teams from across Japan competing in a single elimination tournament to determine a winner (Wikipedia). This isn’t much different from the NCAA college basketball March Madness here in the US. All of the tournament games are held at Koshien Stadium just outside of Osaka, home to the Hashin Tigers of the Central League, and where the tournament gets its nickname. During the 15 days of the tournament the Tigers are forced to play an extended road trip. This hasn’t seemed to hurt the team this year as they are leading the Central League.
For those interested in learning more about the tournament, there is a good documentary currently available on Hulu about Koshien here.
So for those of you who are interested in following along with the blog of the September trip, I’ll give you a rundown of the itinerary.
For this journey, I am going to be going on a tour with JapanBall. This group offers organized tours for fans interested in watching Japanese baseball with fellow baseball fans. There should be a good crew of people and I am looking forward to meeting everyone.
The trip will officially start on September 1, but we won’t arrive until September 2 since the flight crosses over the international dateline. The first game of the trip will be on September 3 in Sendai – City of Trees. Here is the complete list:
September 2 – Arrive in Tokyo. No games.
September 3 – Sendai – Kleenex Miyagi Stadium – Rakuten Golden Eagles vs Seibu Lions
September 4 – Yokohama – Yokohama Stadium – Yokohama BayStars vs Yakult Swallows
September 5 – Hiroshima – Mazada Stadium - Hiroshima Carp vs Hanshin Tigers
September 6 – Off day in Hiroshima.
September 7 – Osaka – Kyocera Dome Osaka - Orix Buffaloes vs Chiba Lotte Marines
September 8 – Saitama – Seibu Dome – Seibu Lions vs Nippon Ham Fighters
September 9 – Osaka – Koshien Stadium – Hansin Tigers vs Chunichi Dragons
September 10 – Fukuoka – Yahoo Dome- Softbank Hawks vs Nippon Ham Fighters
September 11 – Nagoya – Nagoya Dome – Chunichi Dragons vs Yokohama BayStars
September 12 – Tokyo – Tokyo Dome – Yomiuri Giants vs Hiroshima Carp
September 13 – Off day travel to Sapporo.
September 14 – Sapporo – Sapporo Dome – Nippon Ham Fighters vs Golden Eagles
September 15 – Tokyo – Meiji Jingu Stadium – Yakult Swallows vs Yomiuri Giants
September 16 – Return to the US.
Below is a visual of the journey on Tripline complete with theme music!
Kit Kats have become hugely popular in Japan. The story goes that the term “kitto katsu” in Japanese translates to “You will surely win!” This sparked a tradition of giving Kit Kats as a good luck charm by school children during the annual school test days. (Wikipedia) However, Kit Kats are offered in numerous flavors other than the typical chocolate and wafer combination offered in most places.
On our trip in May, my sister rounded up 14 different flavors in Tokyo and Kyoto alone. We have learned that Nestle offers limited editions of flavors in different parts of the country – so this means since I am going to be visiting a number of different cities, my sister has nominated me to be in charge of finding as many Kit Kat flavors as possible on this second trip. I usually don’t buy souvenirs on trips so it will be interesting to have to declare 40 Kit Kats when re-entering the US and nothing else. Ha!
Check out this interesting article on the Kit Kat phenomenon in Japan…Click here.
