The National Pastime

Well last night we went to the baseball game. The whole process was very cool. It started by me walking into a convenient store and buying the tickets through a machine. I needed a lot of help from the guy because everything was in Japanese, and i could not figure out any of it but we got them. This machine sold tickets to everything (movies, sports, theater ect) it is pretty crazy. We get the tickets and we head to the Tokyo Dome. The place is so clean inside. This was the first game that I have been to that was in a dome. So that was pretty neat. The top of the Dome looks really close and you think baseballs will hit it all the time but that is not the case. At stadiums in American they have the net right behind home plate and a little bit more but in Japan they have netting going from foul pole to foul pole so it really takes away from your vision. They are really safe here. It is nice to know that if you are not looking you will not get hit by a line drive. The balls can still go over the net but they will not come right at you. All of the ushers that work near the field were batting helmets. We saw the Fighters vs. the Eagles. Each team has their own fan club section and those areas are packed. I think these two teams were not that great because there were a lot of people that showed up as empty seats. The game started at 6 pm right on the button. Not introduction of players at 6, the pitcher was pitching the 1st pitch of the game at 6. That was pretty amazing. The fan clubs are making noise and cheering the whole time their team is up to bat. Each player has their own cheer so they are always changing and it sounds great. It is a very fun crowd and people come at all points in the game. It was the end of the 3rd inning and people were still pouring into the stadium. Yes they do sell hot dogs there the only problem is that they do not have Cleveland Stadium Mustard which was a major bummer but the hot dog was good. The seats are a little small and they have not changed the seats around to help fit fat Americans enjoy the game.
So we take our seats and they have vendors selling everything walking up and down each row. All of the vendors are woman under the age of 20. They walk down the row, bow and then hold their hand up and walk up the row to see if anyone needs anything. They are all in very bright colors and hats. It is very different than America. They sell both Coke and Pepsi and they sell competing brands of everything. They way that they sell beer is by having the girl carry around about 4 gallon keg on her back and walk around with a tap and fills up cups. It is crazy, and it would never work in America because the vendor would be walking around with the tap in their mouth the whole time. The other Amazing thing they sell while you are at your seat is booze. They sell scotch and whiskey with ice and water and the whole bit. That was pretty amazing. This would also never work in America because if they sold booze at your seat, every game would end in an all out fan riot. The pace of the game was very slow. I do not know if it was just the teams were not good or that is how the game goes. It took more than an hour and half for the first 3 innings to be finished. I would say the level of play is similar to triple-A ball. It took us a while to figure out how fast a 140 kmph pitch was but we figured it out. The fielding was not that great but they are very aggressive on the base paths. It was a very cool experience. I would go and do it again. All in All it has been pretty fun. I hope all is well with you. MORE TO COME.

Peace out.
Kirk