Tag Archives: Baseball

Rakuten Eagles

A couple of weeks ago the wife and I went to see a Rakuten Eagles game. They’re the pro baseball team for Sendai. Usually I don’t go to sporting events, but I was interested to experience what a Japanese baseball game was like. The perfect opportunity came up when my wife won free tickets to a game at her work.

Having been to some baseball games back in Canada I can tell you it was a different experience. It seemed like it was faster paced. Maybe it was the fact that something was always going on during the game. Almost to the point of distraction. Especially when it came time for everyone to send up these whistling balloons. I couldn’t even see the game! I took a shot video where you can hear some of the songs the fans sing during the game. It’s almost like a soccer match.

For some reason my camera didn’t like the bright stadium lights in the video.

What was strange was after the sixth inning the had dancers come out and then there was fireworks. I guess they have a sixth inning stretch and not a seventh. You can see in the photo below we were quite a distance away, but what can you expect when the tickets are free.

One of the best parts was that you can bring two drinks into the game with you (unfortunately I didn’t know about this until we got to the stadium). Including beer!! Oh, if only I had known!

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Filed under Japan, Sendai, Sports

Star of the Giants

I bought this super huge 1000 page comic book of “Star of the Giants”. It’s one of the most famous comics in Japanese, starting the popular trend in sports manga back in the 1960’s. It has influenced every sports manga since then. The story is about Hyuma Hoshi and his struggle to become a professional baseball player. His father devises all kinds of torturous methods of improving his baseball game. One of them is hitting flaming baseballs at him to improve his dodging and catching technique. This is not a serious manga about baseball, it’s almost a fantasy version. The ridiculousness hits incredible highs. You can see some of it in the clips below, including the dangerous jumping spin base slide. Enjoy!

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Filed under Books, Cool, Japan, Manga, Retro