A Red Sox fan in Tokyo: Not so Far East
A small Japanese boy was screaming for Ortiz. My friend Evan and I started cracking up, cheering along with him and giving him thumbs up each time, which only encouraged him to yell it more, and then look to us for approval.
He started averaging three “Big Papi’s” per pitch.
The next time around the order, he showed he had been paying attention. We heard a small “Yooouuuk” cry out from the kid.
The trip then felt like a complete success.
The same, but different
—There were two moments that caused the Tokyo Dome crowd to explode in kickoff at the Super Bowl like flashbulb popping. One came in the Tigers-Red Sox game, when Hanshin’s closer Kyuji Fujikawa came in. The other came in the second game during Hideki Okajima’s performance. The flashbulbs were so overwhelming that each pitch caused a rising “OOOOH” from the fans like myself who were watching the crowd more than the pitch. And this was during Okajima’s warmups.
—It's good to see that that in-between entertainment isn’t any more evolved here. Kids can dance to YMCA or root on mustard on the scoreboard condiments race.
—After each foul ball, a belated sign and message came up to “Watch out for batted ball.” The scoreboard operator would also inexplicably make a big doorbell 'DING DONG' after occasional fouls.
—The beer vendors are the single greatest improvement in Japanese baseball. Instead of cranky old men selling brew, beer is distributed by young women with Ghostbuster-like packs of beer on their back. They are fully outfitted by their employer (Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi, etc.) with bright colors and short shorts. They walk to the bottom of each row of seats roughly every three minutes, bow, then fill up everyone’s cups with nozzles they keep to their side like holstered guns. Genius.
—If the Red Sox went to Japan to spread their brand globally, CEO Larry Lucchino would have watched the scene Saturday outside the Tokyo Dome with an evil smile. Fans swarmed the t-shirt and jersey stands like locusts. Small children and old women seemed to spring from the ground, ducking under us, pushing to the front. It reminded me of a packed Boston or New York bar at midnight on a Friday, except we were getting drunk on $35 t-shirts.
—The stadium also tried to play Take me Out to the Ballgame although the music played way too fast and the words on the scoreboard didn’t come close to keeping up.
—J.D. Drew won the "man of the match" for both games, roughly the game’s MVP award. A Japanese television crew set up a makeshift stage to interview him with a translator after each game. He proved that he could look disinterested giving dry answers in any language.
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