Went to a pro baseball game at the Tokyo Dome, home to the Yomiuri Giants. They have the same colors and logo as the San Fransisco Giants, but the similarities to them stops there. The Tokyo Giants are the New York Yankees of Japan completely. Everyone hates on them, yet they have a ton of fans, and more money than they know what to do with. Yomiuri is the company that owns them, and haven't been called the Tokyo Giants in some time, as the other Tokyo teams got mad when they did. Tonights game was against the Saitama Seibu Lions.
I bought my tickets a kiosk in a convenience store. It was the hardest thing I had to figure out yet. It was all in Japanese, and I was really surpised I managed to pull it off all on my own. You can buy all kinds of tickets from these things, movies, music concerts, and of course sporting events.
It was pouring rain the day of the game, but it was OK as the stadium is a dome with fake grass. A lot of the baseball parks are, probably because it rains so much in the summer here. It is weird going to a baseball game and not having the National Anthem at the start, also no 7th inning stretch. It was a very interesting game. Nothing happened until the 5th inning when the Lions scored two runs. Bottom of the 5th the Giants had a man on first and second, then this guy hits a home run. Later The Lions get a run to tie. Then no scores and the game goes to overtime. I haven't had this happen at a game before. This was kind of bad as it was getting to 10:00pm and the subways close at 11:00pm, but I've never want to leave a ballgame early, especially when it is tied up. Lucky the Giants do some thing at the bottom of the 10th. A guy steals 2nd, they get a base hit to put him at 3rd, and another base hit to win. Almost a 4 hour game, at 10:00 I get out of there to make it back to Ueno.
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| Lots of fans. |
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| Super loud Lions fans. They had a guy with drums and a trumpet player. |
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| Nose bleed section for ¥1800, not bad. |
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| Mascot games and of course t-shirts cannons later on. |
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| Messing with the tilt shift setting on my camera. |
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| Final score. |
I'm so glad you were able to catch a baseball game on your trip. And it sounds like it was quite a game. The Tokyo Dome looks huge, and it looks like the place is packed. You said there was no 7th inning stretch, but did the game have any unique mid-inning customs we don't have here?
ReplyDeleteNope just inning to inning.
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