Japan's Favorite Past Time- Part I

(From the forgotten chronicles of Fall 2005)
It’s a flurry of action. Men compete against one another in titanic struggle after struggle, pitting strategy, strength, speed, and agility against their opponents for the ultimate prize. Sweat, blood, and tears flow from both sides. Fans shower their favorite with screams of devotion and pride. I speak of the sport that has captivated Japan for many, many years.

No, I don’t mean sumo.

I am speaking about a sport that has crossed both cultural and physical boundaries, traversing vast expanses of ocean to lodge itself firmly into the hearts and minds of the Japanese people. Yes dear reader… I speak of the time-honored game of baseball.

Now, I don’t claim to be a baseball fanatic. I haven’t devoted vast amounts of time to learning about players and their statistics. Asking me to name last year’s roster of any team will net you a blank stare. I can’t even rattle off all the MLB team names like some members of my family (shame still twinges my very being every four years or so). My pitiful home team doesn’t seem to know how to play the game very well. And so, my interest in this all-American sport is contained to a few games at Coors field to enjoy the sun, and possibly as background noise on the television while clipping my toenails.

Ironic how it took moving overseas for baseball to capture my attention once more.

It was hardly noticeable at first, a passing fancy really. Ash and I had heard about the difference between games here vs. in the states; typical stuff like “the atmosphere is electric” and “fans really get into the game”. And so, we decided it was time to experience Japanese baseball for ourselves… a decision that would lead to the peculiar phenomenon of two Americans following the foreign league of a sport born out of their native soil all the way through the regular season to the Asian Championship itself.