Catching Up: Playoff Baseball
I've been pretty busy the past few days and missed blogging some events in my life. Too tired to write it all out so I will do it in sections. First, baseball!
As happy as I am for the Yankees (and I actually had time to watch most of the games), this post is not about them. Right now also happens to be the playoffs for the Nippon Professional Baseball. My professor was nice enough to ask me if I wanted to go to a game. Of course I agreed, even if it meant missing my once-a-week basketball class. So last Friday, I met up with my prof in Tokyo and we went to Tokyo Dome to catch a playoff game.
Tickets...are cheap, especially compared to NY prices. We didn't actually get seats (those tickets were sold out already) but in Japan they sell standing-room tickets. Only 1000 yen (~$11) for a playoff game. Of course, if you don't get there early and reserve a spot by a railing (by placing your stuff by it), it gets really tiring standing for close to 4 hours. We didn't stay for the entire game, only stayed for the first 3 innings before we went to dinner, but it was still quite an experience. Oh, and my prof treated me to the game. Nice.
First thing you notice is how organized the cheering squads are. I'm not talking about cheerleaders, though they do exist in Japanese baseball, but about groups of organized fans who have chants for seemingly every situation. There are personal chants for each player and many situations. The Bleacher Creatures at Yankee Stadium (does anyone actually know what I am referring to? probably not) have a reputation for being pretty fanatical, but they can't touch a Japanese ooendan (cheer squad). They really are quite loud though and my professor commented on how he doesn't really like attending baseball games in Japan because it is way too loud. Makes sense, but I guess it is still an experience for me. Maybe if I go to many games (ooendans are everywhere in Japan) I will get sick of them too.
Something else that stood out, all of the mobile vendors (you know, the ones that actually go around in the stands selling stuff) where girls. Sex sells everywhere, not that I am surprised. Though instead of showing flesh like they would in the US, the girls were dressed up in a "cute"/kawaii way. I think it was pretty obvious that one's look was a requirement for the job. The PC side Pomona installed in me jumped all of the fact, but another side thought, does it really matter all that much? Should I be angry at the objectification of women working there?
Fan culture is obviously very different here and I think it would be something interesting to study. Not sure if I will touch upon it this year though. There is something that seems to appear in almost every professional baseball game. The most popular food and drink? Hotdogs and beer.
As happy as I am for the Yankees (and I actually had time to watch most of the games), this post is not about them. Right now also happens to be the playoffs for the Nippon Professional Baseball. My professor was nice enough to ask me if I wanted to go to a game. Of course I agreed, even if it meant missing my once-a-week basketball class. So last Friday, I met up with my prof in Tokyo and we went to Tokyo Dome to catch a playoff game.
Tickets...are cheap, especially compared to NY prices. We didn't actually get seats (those tickets were sold out already) but in Japan they sell standing-room tickets. Only 1000 yen (~$11) for a playoff game. Of course, if you don't get there early and reserve a spot by a railing (by placing your stuff by it), it gets really tiring standing for close to 4 hours. We didn't stay for the entire game, only stayed for the first 3 innings before we went to dinner, but it was still quite an experience. Oh, and my prof treated me to the game. Nice.
First thing you notice is how organized the cheering squads are. I'm not talking about cheerleaders, though they do exist in Japanese baseball, but about groups of organized fans who have chants for seemingly every situation. There are personal chants for each player and many situations. The Bleacher Creatures at Yankee Stadium (does anyone actually know what I am referring to? probably not) have a reputation for being pretty fanatical, but they can't touch a Japanese ooendan (cheer squad). They really are quite loud though and my professor commented on how he doesn't really like attending baseball games in Japan because it is way too loud. Makes sense, but I guess it is still an experience for me. Maybe if I go to many games (ooendans are everywhere in Japan) I will get sick of them too.
Something else that stood out, all of the mobile vendors (you know, the ones that actually go around in the stands selling stuff) where girls. Sex sells everywhere, not that I am surprised. Though instead of showing flesh like they would in the US, the girls were dressed up in a "cute"/kawaii way. I think it was pretty obvious that one's look was a requirement for the job. The PC side Pomona installed in me jumped all of the fact, but another side thought, does it really matter all that much? Should I be angry at the objectification of women working there?
Fan culture is obviously very different here and I think it would be something interesting to study. Not sure if I will touch upon it this year though. There is something that seems to appear in almost every professional baseball game. The most popular food and drink? Hotdogs and beer.