Baseball and Shinjuku Station

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Home Run

Packed in like sardines

Packed in like sardines
Home Run Besides the crazy celebrations for home-runs, my sister made it on the big screen (that was how Pamela Anderson got noticed yeh?), and we went to the wrong stadium!

Let's start with the whole stadium mix-up first...

I wanted to see a baseball game at Tokyo Dome. My sister assured me that the best way to get ticks for a baseball game was from the local convenience store. So off we went to buy tickets, a week before the game to be safe. I have to say it was a bit of a struggle ordering tickets. My sister has a pretty good hold of the Japanese lingo, but she's not too familiar asking things like 'which area of the stadium is the best place to sit?'. I really had no idea what was being said. I was just happy to have my sister do the talking...or was I?

On game day, we arrived at Tokyo Dome ('The Big Egg') about half an hour early to leave time to get in with the other '50 000 fans' that were going to be there (right Al?). Walking to the stadium from the train station we hardly passed any fans (a nice sunset though). They must have all arrived early yeh? Or there was no game on at Tokyo Dome at all! Eagerly anticipating walking into a packed Tokyo Dome, we walked up to a guard out the front of the stadium and showed our ticks. 'I'm sorry.' He said. 'There is no game here tonight.' (or something similar in Japanese!) I couldn't believe it! What a mix-up. The guard explained that our tickets were for a game at another staidum. Luckily, it was near-by. Only a 20 min train trip. So we made it there in the end (and Jeremy did too...). So I'm guessing there was something that was 'lost in translation' when we were buying the tickets! It wasn't quite Tokyo Dome, but still had a good atmosphere and we at least managed to book decent seats.

The whole celebrating home-runs by opening and closing umbreallas is among the most bizarre things I've seen in Japan. I later worked out that it was a celebration unique to the team we were barracking for (so I guess that just made our team weird...I think they were the Swallows). Check out the vid.

Towards the end of the game I headed for a bite to eat. Close to the shop, I was just about to walk past the big screen when my sister made her clame to fame. The cameras had zoomed in on her, and she had obviously noticed by some of her dance moves. I thought about getting my camera out, but usually they only have the camera on someone for a few seconds so I didn't bother. In effect, I probably had loads of time to get a pic or even a video clip. Sorry Al!

The vid of the packed train at Shinjuku was typical of most city trains (especially near the last train service around midnight). For such a polite culture, all the shoving and lack of personal space that you see on the trains is a real contrast.

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