Japan does America’s favorite past time better than America. I love baseball and enjoy watching the games and going to the stadiums, but a Japanese baseball game is a whole different level.

Merchandise-wise, there are, of course, jerseys with the player’s names. But then there are also rally towels dedicated to each player. When the player with your towel does something good or is up to bat, you open your rally towel big so that it is like a banner. And when anyone does anything good, like a home run, everyone bunches up their towels and shakes them in the air.

During batting practice, there were men in uniforms with megaphones and they seemed to be some sort of safety patrol. They would announce through megaphones and blow their whistles when a ball was heading towards the crowd in their direction.

We were sat in the section right next to the cheering club. The game was full of non-stop cheering and singing and changing. There were multiple songs and we would replace the name if the player who was at bat or who was pitching, whoever we needed to cheer on in that moment.

Forty-five minutes before game started, the opposing team section all stood up and did a little chant and waved their huge flags. And then we in the home team cheering section stood up and gave a cheer back and waved our big flags.

We were directed by our Cheering Club who would keep our cheering organized, and play instruments, and wave the big flags. The rest of us sang and clapped and waved our hands in a synchronized way.

Here, we got a run!

There are a couple of Americans on the teams, and one that stood out to me is named “Cabbage” but in Japanese, they call him “Kah-bah-ayy.” Every at bat, every pitch, we are cheering on Ka-bah-ayy and I doubt he got that level reception and love from the crowd when he played in the MLB in America. Being Kah-bah-ayy sounds way more appealing than being Cabbage. I bet he is enjoying being in Japan.

Tokyo Dome is epic. Tokyo dome is an architectural marvel. It is Japan’s first large-scale multi-purpose stadium with an air-membrane structure, completed in 1988. It inflates its membrane roof like a balloon by pumping air from outside into the dome, slightly increasing the air pressure inside the dome compared to the outside. The plaque claims that the difference in pressure between inside and outside the dome is barely noticeable to the human body, but my ears definitely popped when I went through the revolving door entering the dome. The plaque also highlights all the safety features of the dome and eases any concerns that if the power goes out that the dome would still maintain its shape.

The food court is unreal. There are so many options and they are well advertised. There are meals across the different food stands that are promoted by the different players, like a specific sandwich or treat, and of course bento box meals named after each player. I wonder when that player does really well in a game, if that food sells more.

Also the trash cans were very impressive. I have never seen waste itemized so intentionally. The trash cans included burnables, non-burnables, food waste, bottles and bottle caps, plastic cups, and ice & drink waste. Wow!

I arrived to the game earlier than Seika and Takuro. They both came directly from their jobs. I secured our tickets on a Japanese reseller site and was a little worried that maybe the seller would sell the tickets to multiple people because I am used to scams and there were no scam protections aside from trust and honesty. Anytime someone would try to sit in their seats, I was worried they had been double sold, but it was always just the wrong row or seat number. I was able to communicate in Japanese that these were my friends’ seats by saying 友達 の (tomodachi no, “friends”). Takuro studied the cheering songs ahead of time to be ready.

In Japan, there are drink girls who wear medium sized kegs on their backs and walk around pouring draft beer. Each girl has a different type of beer or alcohol drink, and their outfit and backpack advertise the drink that they are serving. I ordered from the Kirin girl and the Lemon Sour girl.

Here you can see 2 of the girls walking along the aisles wearing their kegs. I saw at least 4 different types of drink available.

The Yomiori Giants won 4-2 against the Chunichi Dragons. Tanaka earned the win, and that made his 200th game win in his career. There was a nice ceremony celebration in his honor after the game.

Congrats Tanaka! Let’s go Giants!