More than 10,000 miles away, but right at home

As all you Ichiro fans out there know, the Japanese love their baseball. And why wouldn't they, it is a great sport! I took advantage of being in one of the few other countries that likes this sport so to see a few games.

Game 1 was in Tokyo, where the hometown Yomiuri Giants (the Yankees of the Far East) battled the Chunichi Dragons. They play in the Tokyo Dome, which has many similarities to the lovely and now defunct Metrodome in the Twin Cities. Consider:

Both have odd rollercoasters nearby (Tokyo in the same complex, Minnesota in the Mall of America)

And both have a highly sterile baseball watching environment, always a shame when it's 75 and gorgeous outside (as the day was...)

On this day, it was the Giants turn to prevail, and they are off to a fast 10-5 start to the season.

Game 2 was in Hiroshima, where the oh-so-lovely named Hiroshima Carp took on the Yakult Swallows (the Mets of this country). Here they play in a nearly brand new stadium called the Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium (I wish I was making this up). It is new and outdoor and pretty sparkling, if a bit empty (both in terms of fans that night and also in terms of things: ads, food, events, etc.). My seats in right field provided a great lens on the action.

Alas, there was no action. When I arrived, the score was already 2-2. Neither team would score again in regulation, and the Carp didn't even manage to get a hit. As the temperature dropped and the wind rose, I was begging them to finish it. And the home team complied, with one of their stars hitting a game-winning jack in the bottom of the 10th. Game over!

One highlight in between was the Carp version of the 7th inning stretch. At about the 6th, everyone around me starting blowing up these odd shaped balloons. I was intrigued. Then, as the stretch happened, the loudspeakers played a song with a kind of lulling grace to it. Simultaneously, the fans released their balloons into the air, untied, and they swam straight up, wiggling like...carp. Oh, I get it!!!

Finally, no discourse on Japanese baseball would be complete without an assessment of their concessions. In the Tokyo Dome, I had takoyaki (fried balls of octobpus). For the Carp, I tucked into a big bowl of rice topped with so much eel and a weird white goo. Luckily, there was a massive ball of wasabi to cover up the flavor of too much eel. For dessert (?) I had a deep fried octopus tentacle. I wish I had a picture of this folks, it was like 8 inches long and looked like a seahorse. Definitely weird, a bit poorly cooked, seems about right for ballpark food.

PS - Go Twins!!! At home in a new stadium, they are off to a great start last time I looked. Hometown hero and lifelong Twin Mauer will be MVP again, no doubt.