プロ野球! Professional Baseball!

It's that time of year again - baseball season is upon us and the Japanese.

Wait. Japan? Baseball?! I'm confused! I thought they only watched like sumo wrestling and kabuki plays and stuff?

Nope! The Japanese are very passionate about baseball and have their own 12-team league to follow called Nippon Professional Baseball, or the NPB which is equivalent to our MLB. In fact, North American has stolen quite a few players from them for our teams, such as Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners, Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox, Kosuke Fukudome of the Chicago Cubs and my favorite player, Akinori Iwamura of the Pittsburgh Pirates just to name a few.

There are a few differences between when it comes to rules and regulations when comparing the MLB to the NPB but those aren't very interesting. The major differences are in going to the games themselves. I had the pleasure of attending 5 games in Japan last year and it completely ruined domestic games for me.

The biggest difference? That's easy - the fans. Extremely organized and loud (and sometimes paid), Japanese baseball fans raise the bar of fandom. It's not enough to haphazardly slap some sentiment on a piece of posterboard or paint your face. No, no, no. To be a true fan in Japan involves learning a different song for each batter, your team's fight song and being armed with flags, thunder sticks, banners, drums, horns, megaphones, etc while wearing your team's colors from head to toe...





...literally. I mentioned the word "paid" above. Yes, they have professional fans! Called 応援団 ("ouendan" or cheer squads), they have auditions and practices. They lead the other fans in songs, cheers and chants when while their team is at bat - which is quite the opposite here. Both teams are always equally represented by ouendan at ALL games, so there's never a lull in the noise, excitement or enthusiasm.


The next difference is the food. The question I was asked the most is: "Can you get sushi at baseball game?" The answer: "You bet... along with riceballs, tempura, edamame, teriyaki, noodles along with our classics of hotdogs, popcorn and of course, BEER."

Yes, these girls bring beer to you! Don't like Asahi? (What's wrong with you?!) Don't worry, a girl carrying Sapporo, Suntory, Kirin or Yebisu on her back will hike the stairs by your section soon enough.

With all this going on, it's easy to forget that there's a baseball being played! This is why I usually have moments of "ho-hum" at a major league game here.

There's a wonderfully fun tour run by JapanBall every year for the sole purpose of experiencing these games. I went last year and had a blast. I urge you to check it out even if you're not a baseball fan.

If flying halfway around the world to watch some baseball is something you can't swing, then you can watch it from the comfort of your living room, albeit at 4 am. Your cable or satellite provider might have a premium channel called "TV Japan" - which is basically NHK's feed minus the commercials. They usually show 3 or 4 games a week plus you get all of their sitcoms, dramas, children's programming and news.