Baseball in Japan

We had heard that going to a baseball game in Japan was something that we needed to experience. So on Sunday we went to Yokohama to watch a game between the Yokohama Bay Stars and the Tokyo Swallows. It was definitely a unique experience - definitely much different than going to a game in the states. It was similar to a college basketball game that has a vocal student section or a European soccer game. For instance, the outfield bleachers are split into two sections - one for the home team and one for the visiting team. These fans stand up when there team is batting and they will sing, chant and do a variety of cheers the entire time. Very cool looking - the girls said that is where they want to sit the next time we go to a game. Try to watch the videos - really interesting.

Tickets - took some time to figure out where
our seats were.

Cheerleaders came out between every inning.

The cheer sections put up this sign one inning
while the crowd sang to the city of Yokohama song.

There were girls in neon yellow everywhere
selling beer.

Late in the game we started noticing most of
the people suddenly had balloons.

Where the balloons came from, I have no idea.

And then this happened.

This is the visiting teams chant/cheer. It is hard to tell from how the video was uploaded, but there were thousands of people waving their umbrellas in unison as the song was playing. What is amazing is that the stadium played the music so that the visiting team could do their chant.

These were given out to all the fans as we
entered the stadium. 

They are very nice - made out of nylon
instead of plastic.