Japanese Major League Baseball Game!

Its time to revert back to my American Roots! It’s a great thing that Japanese people looooove baseball. My sister decided that she was going to come live with me this past spring and I couldn’t have been more excited! She’s coming on a temporary visa with high hopes of getting a job and staying for a couple of years. We have been planning this for the past couple of months and before I even realized it the time had come for her to arrive. It was very exciting. I drove to the airport which is about 2 hours away with a friend from work and we had a grand time. When we arrived at the airport I ran to check the flights and we waited patiently for hers, it was delayed by 15 minutes. I thought for sure I would see her walking down the glassed ramp and it’s not very hard to spot an american among many Japanese people but she surprised me by coming out from another area and getting her luggage before I spotted her.

Her first meal in Japan was Coco Curries and she picked the quail eggs dish. She’s very adventurous. We ended up getting quite lost on the way home but I’m never surprised when that happens as it occurs quite frequently.. I feel like I’m always lost here!

The best part is that she arrived on the weekend and I had the weekend off so I made her go straight to bed when we got home and the next morning I woke her up and we were off to go to a Japanese Major League Baseball Game! The Softbank Hawks were playing and we wanted to see. We bought a shopping bag full of Chu-hi’s (best alcoholic beverage ever) jumped on the train and off we were zipping through the countryside with 8 people who I work with. It was a very enjoyable ride. I love trains.

We arrived back in the same town as the airport and after a subway ride and a short walk, we were there. Walking into the stadium I saw a monkey wearing a Softbank Hawk Jersey doing tricks. It was very interesting. Once we got our seats the game began and it was very fun. Our favorite part is during the seventh inning the away team and the home team blow up these balloons that look very funny and you don’t tie them off. The away team does it first and they sing their song for their team and then they release the balloons up into the air and let them fly around and fall down onto the field. Then the home team does it and we had a grand time. Watch the video below to see what I am talking about.

During the game I tried all of the different foods they sell at the stadium, noodle dishes, rice wrapped in seaweed, yakitori (meet on a stick), but nothing beats a hot dog and cracker jacks at a baseball game and I’m sticking to that story, It’s the first time I’ve really missed American food all at once.

After the game we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe Japan which is right next to the stadium and then we got back onto the train and headed back to our town. It was a very exciting and exhausting day.