Baseball in Japan

We went to our first professional baseball game in Japan yesterday.

We were told repeatedly by everyone we met that baseball here is "So FUN" and "much better than in the states" so of course we had these expectations that we were going to be thoroughly entertained. They did not lie.

They even entertain before the game has even started. Here's a video of a bunch of people out on the field dancing...kind of felt like a flash mob especially since the maintenance workers even join in.

During the game it's entertaining because each player, yes each player, not each team, has their own song/chant that everyone sings when they get up to bat. It's much more interactive. Although part of me felt that chanting and singing while someone was up to bat would be very distracting and perhaps that's why the BayStars are not the top ranked team...I didn't take any video of the chanting, but you can watch a quick one here.

During some point of the 7th inning they release balloons. You buy a pack of 3 for essentially $3 and everyone blow them up, but instead of tying them off they just release them in the air. Kind of fun and random. 

Some other items of interest I observed:

-The stadium is cut in half, one team sits on one side the other on the other side, and there are a few fans who infiltrate the other team's side, but for the most part it seems they stick to their team's side.
-The food is delicious, I only took pictures of a couple treats, but in all I had to sample the yakisoba, caramel corn, and a really refreshing shaved ice that was soaked in mandarin orange syrup/juice and topped with mandarin oranges. They also had fried rice, curries, bento boxes, egg rolls and then some typical ball game items like hot dogs and fries.
-People are really fans, not just fair-weathered, I've never seen so many people in a stadium with jerseys of their favorite players.
-Everyone is very respectful, there wasn't a lot of "boo-ing", occasionally there were some noises of disappointment but generally speaking it was mostly just cheering coming from one side or the other.
-The stadium is surrounded by a beautiful public park, flowers blooming everywhere, water fountains, trees. Makes the space seem more relevant on a daily basis rather than just sporting events. And it's much nicer than a stadium just surrounded by a giant parking lot.

Overall it was a beautiful day, very warm and a great experience. Now it's Sunday and we have to tackle a group of 8 three-year-olds for 2 hours. Yep, we now have a calling to teach the sunbeams. Lucky us!