The Travels of Tru – Part I

A dear friend of the RSC and frequent commenter here, “Tru” is making the trip to Japan to see both Red Sox games versus the Oakland A’s. Tru was kind enough to offer to contribute his observations on his trip, Japan, and the games.

Here is the first in what I hope will be a few installments of “The Travels of Tru”:

Good morning…

My schedule has me landing in Narita at about 4PM Sunday. When I first made the trek to Japan, it was about 20 years ago. The flight from JFK took about 15 1/2 hours, and I cannot begin to tell you how fully exhausted I was from that trip. I was on a plane that had a smoking section, and the flight attendants back then did not care thing one about me being a non smoker. If only I had a cigar with me, I’d have shown them a really good time. Although, I recall that cigars were taboo, so it would have been at best, a political gesture. I can only imagine that one of the hundreds of Japanese travelers would have taken me out with one swift karate move. Narita was not as updated as it is today. But the sense of order there is strong. It’s in your face on how the uniform plays a big role in who is who and what they do.

So over the years, you try to get a bit smarter and break the trip up. I arrived into Seattle Thursday night, spent a short day of business on Friday, and chilled yesterday. I’m in my room and sort of getting it into gear to head over to SeaTac. Reluctantly, I’ll get on for 10 or so hour trip into the Land of the Rising Sun. I’ve been able to secure a seat in business class, which is a far cry from my first trips to Japan. The food is good and United has laid off of the last hour of the trip, with the let’s exercise from our seat videos. Yeah, the first time that happened, I was dumb struck, as everybody was doing it.

My primary reason for going to Japan is work. My company is headquartered in the Yoyogi district of Tokyo. The people I work with are pretty nice, and kind of rebels, who have left behind large corporate careers, instead opting for the intimacy and freedom small to medium size business affords. Over the last six years, my colleagues have come to know my passion for the Red Sox. In our weekly communications, there is always time set aside for social talk. It’s very rare that Japanese business people ask about your family, as the propriety of business custom always comes first; personal matters have no place at the table. Yet, they ask about my family and also about the Red Sox. I’ve been educating them as best I can to the wild ride that American baseball is. Parts of it they get, while others seems to elude them.

Let me mention that last year, after the Boston Marathon, I had to travel to Toronto. The Sox were also heading up there and flying out of Logan, I happened to sit next to a TV producer from Japan. He worked for NHK and first came to the US when Hideki Matsui began to play for the Yankees. NHK set him and his team up in New York, and all they did was follow Godzilla where ever he played. When the news broke over Matsuzaka signing with the Sox, his whole crew was uprooted and sent to Boston. The assignment was similar to that of Matsui, but with a twist; everywhere Matsuzaka went, they would be there too. He also explained to me the long term view of baseball from Japan being exported into the US. Much like the view of business of calculated slow growth, Japanese baseball also has taken a similar path. Going back over the year, this guy talked about Irabu, and Nomo and Ichiro. Matsui was huge news, but Matsuzaka was in a class all his own.

The expectation was simple. Matsuzaka would be the first Japanese player to be on a World Series team and be cause for winning such a game. Game three was that moment and all of Japan was giddy with pride. So upon his homecoming, the Tokyo Dome will be pregnant with excitement that will captivate the island nation and all of us too. I cannot help feeling an overwhelming sense of pride that we have come to a point of world acceptance, at least in baseball, or other sports. But so much for political asides. This is really about manipulating my business to support my terrible affliction known as Red Sox baseball.

As for going to the game, I will be joined by Brenda, Brenken’s daughter (RSC Note: “Brenken” is one of the “Sistahs“). She taught English in Japan for a lot of years. She’s fluent in Japanese and like her mother, a diehard fan. She is far more familiar with the Japanese culture, and knows the customs far better than my sporadic observations over twenty years. She also knows her baseball. Makes for a great night at the Dome with a friend from back home.

Oh yeah, one last thing before I head over to the airport. I’m wearing my Sox championship cap, tee shirt and warm up pull over, forsaking the ritual slacks, collared shirt and blue blazer. Screw it, I’m a Sox fan and damned proud of it!

Kanpai!

Photo of the Tokyo Dome lifted from Wikipedia