And now, Sports!

Sporting events in Japan are an incredible affair, the fervor of which can be said to be equal to, if not exceeding,  those feelings that the industry generates in America.  Japanese tradition has long since adorned a sort of "competitive spirit" into its very fabric, from seeing who can hit a ball to the farthest, to who can most honorably represent their feudal master, to see who can stay the latest after school grading papers.  For sports, there is a fan for every sport, every game, every match, no matter how dull it may be (more on that in a minute).

Since arriving, I've had the pleasure of attending two soccer games of the local team here, the Kashima Antlers.  Kashima is a city just around the corner (actually, across the bridge into the next prefecture), and their team is pretty decent, I think. The first game, the Antlers dominated the competition, while the second game ended in a tie.  Apparently, in Japan, when the clock ends in soccer and there is a tie, the game simply ends, without tiebreaker or sudden death.  Watching a game of soccer for 90 minutes only to have it end in a tie is definitely not one of my favorite possible outcomes, but it's still pretty fun.

Refer to the video below for a quick glimpse of the standard soccer game:

• Those chanters chant and chant and chant, through the entire length of the game and beyond.  Their throats must be so sore from singing and chanting!  And there are some drummers too, and I can't imagine how sore their hands must be after drumming for two hours!
• The chanting is insanely loud, because it comes from the mouths of several hundreds, or maybe thousands, of Kashima fans who attend every game to support the team.
• There's a token non-Japanese guy on the Kashima team, but I don't think you can see him in this video.

Soccer games in Japan are pretty fun!  Well, at least because they aren't very common in America, anyway. And that's all for soccer!  Next up...

Baseball: the best part is the wide selection of concessions...

We also had the pleasure of going as big group of 15 to go to see a Chiba Lotte Marines game!  The Chiba Lotte Marines are serious business, and represent Chiba City/Chiba area in the Japanese Pacific League.  The stadium is monstrous, and located in Makuhari, a very un-Japanese city, more reminiscent of a Western sprawling metropolis.  Anyway, like anything Japanese, the Marines have a cute mascot (actually, they have 4 or 5, but this is the main one):

This is a six foot tall seagull in real life.

Here's a whole slew of awesome pics.  Note that the little Japanese kid started talking to us foreigners and kind of hung around for the entire game!  He was really cute and kept on talking with us and he was so excited that he ran around the stadium a few times.  Ah, to be young again...

On the way to the stadium...

Some very strange graffiti that I thought should be captured, a) because it's absurd, and b) graffiti is actually really rare in Japan.

for the "seventh inning stretch," everyone blows up balloons and lets them fly at the same time!!

This drink has the best name I've ever seen for anything.

New Zealander Mike enjoying his first ever hot dog!!

The whole day was a blend of a few separate things:

• Mainly, watching a hyperactive little Japanese boy run around.
• The beer ladies actually had mini-kegs strapped to their back and would walk around the whole game dispensing drinks!  Seeing as how people don't tip in Japan, I can only imagine how crappy this job must have been, or maybe they get paid a lot?  Either way, a mini keg of beer is pretty darn heavy.  They sold different kinds of beers and also girly-type drinks, like fruity drinks as well.  There were a few hot dog vendors as well!
• A bunch of gaijin being loud and having a great time! :-)

Unfortunately, Japan has another very strange convention for ties that applies to baseball. Like soccer, baseball can end in a tie!  And, in fact, after 11 innings, if there is no winner, the game simply ENDS.  Which is exactly what happened.  Granted, the game had gone on about 3 and a half hours already, but to end the game in a tie after 11 innings was a little disappointing.  After the game, we immediately hopped back on the train for the 2 hour ride back home (looong day).

Now if only we could find a nice American Football game to watch...