The Travels of Tru – Part V

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 fifth in what will be a six installments of “The Travels of Tru”:

Tuesday March 25th

Who says mass transit stinks?

Brenda showed up at my hotel and after a quick greeting, “Gee nice to see you here in Tokyo”, we headed via train to the Tokyo Dome. The Japanese train system is indeed the major, most used form of getting around. It is also inexpensive compared to other means. The taxis are immaculate, with drivers sporting white gloves, doily covered head rests, and rear doors that open automatically. It should be noted that tipping for services is not customary in Japan, and to do so is to offer affront.

The pictures taken of the route system map is from the station next to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government office. I took a couple of pictures so you can see how the Japanese can crank up government along with the best of them. The trains are also very clean. While we were on this train around 5 PM, this is not rush hour traffic; the train is a lot emptier than would normally be seen.

So this is where Matsui hit 55 homeruns!

As we approached the Dome, we started to notice a lot of English speaking people, lots of Sox and A’s gear. There were more Japanese people wearing gear for both teams, and excitement about what was to come began to envelop me.

We climbed stairs to take a wide bridge over to the main area outside of the Dome. There was a couple who were learned were celebrating their first wedding anniversary, and we took a photo of them together and in turn, they took a picture of Brenda, me, then the both of us. Later in the game, we saw them on the Jumbo-Tron.

Getting inside the stadium was interesting. A large uniformed security presence is stationed at each entrance. It was like observing a sports version of TSA. They had metal detectors, and issued small clear plastic bags, which were used to put anything in your pockets into. You had to show this bag to security, and if you carried a back pack, or camera bag, purse, etc., searching those items was random. Yet a highlight of my night occurred early, when a very cute Japanese gal, who was part of the security team asked, “May I please check your body?” It’s been a long time since I’d heard anything remotely tied to the twisted take I applied to her question, and upon further contemplation thought better of it, and kept my mouth shut. Like all things in Japan, the security process had a certain rhythm and cadence, requiring cooperation from the people going to the game, and they willingly obliged from what little we could see.

The Tokyo Dome is pretty well organized, where food services are all found on one level, and souvenirs are on another level. Being home to the Giants, much of the merchandise centers on them. However, there were plenty of commemorative items to celebrate the event, spanning all manner of price ranges. Lot’s of Daisuke and Hideki stuff, and programs in Japanese or English. Because of our seats, we were provided with some interesting gifts: a multicolored towel that has the official logo of the “Opening Series, Japan, 2008” on it, which is actually kind of cool. We were also provided with blow up thunder sticks. I’m happy to say that neither Brenda nor I used them, but we appreciated the thought. I waited for a few minutes as Brenda was checking out some stuff, and a guy from East Hartford, CT, dressed in A’s gear struck up a conversation. We talked briefly about his team, and of course the Sox, but the brief encounter had to include the weird feeling that opening day was about to happen thousands of miles away from home. A guy wearing a (gasp), Yankee hat asked if we would pose for a picture, which we gladly did.

Haven’t we been here before?

We decided to head to our seats, which were 30 rows back from the field. Patrick, the ticket guru who got us squared away told me that we were four rows back from the field, which was not true. What we were four rows back from was a huge concourse that separated us from lower seats. Still, they were great, and if for no other reason, we were there and could see everything. The Sox were taking batting practice, and the crush of on field people was overwhelming. Lots of media, of course, but there were a lot of other people who we had no idea did what, or what entitled them to be there. I’d bet even money Lucchino knew and most likely negotiated an arrangement where for a mere $5,000, you could stand on the field behind velvet ropes to see what was going on up close and personal.

As we took more time looking around at our surroundings, it became clear that the facility was immaculate. Everything looked as though it was cleaned with the utmost care. The concrete flooring was painted, had a sheen to it, and the seats were comfortable. The row in front of us had seats that were padded, with velour of some sort on the seat backs and bottoms. The field reminded me a lot of the old Kingdome in Seattle. The stands did not. The layout of the stands reminded me more on Minute Maid Park in Houston. At the top stair leading down to the seats is a uniformed person, who checks tickets to make sure you are in the right area. They stay there throughout the game, but don’t enforce checking your tickets to make sure you belong there.

Andy Warhol thinks he knows you.

Brenda and I were sitting there, making small talk, when a camera crew comes up, asks if we’re Red Sox fans, and would we mind being interviewed. I guess Brenda sporting her Pedroia jersey, and me wearing an 07 World Championship hat and a Red Sox wind jacket forced them to be sure we were Sox fans. Since we saw countless people that were not Japanese being herded and supplied with Sox gear outside the Dome, the question was perfectly understandable. I don’t know how to insert an eye rolling emoticon here, but if I could, it would be the perfect compliment to the reporters question.

So we agree to be interviewed, by CNN no less, but do not know when or where it was to be aired. We were asked about the Sox and their playing this game in Japan, and if it was important. I’ll refrain from my spacing out and having thoughts of my earthly superpowers as “Obvious Man”, needing to tell this twit how stupid her question was. She followed that with another about Matsuzaka, following the same, let me lead you to comments I think I want to hear. I went first, babbled incoherently and Brenda pulled out the save. Articulate and to the point, she summed up her feelings in about 12 seconds, while I was trying to tell the reporter how to build a watch even though she did not ask me what time it was.

Man, you’re making a spectacle of yourself… baseball

I’m hoping NESN, or whoever carried the broadcast aired the pre game ceremonies. It really was a spectacle, and I cannot imagine how many performers there were, but it was a lot.

 

Traditional Japanese dancing was featured, as was drum banging and signing, mixed with JapRap, which frankly was very cool. Some of the dancers came from the stands out onto the field. If you got to see the singing of national anthems, the guys who performed ours were fabulous. Indulge me while I tell you how completely weird it felt standing on Japanese soil and listening to our national anthem. For Japan, they had a woman who was a famous Japanese opera star. I’ve seen a lot of different ways the people who perform national anthems for the opening of sporting events are dressed, but I can honestly say this was the first time I saw someone clad in a full evening gown. She was also impressive, although I confess to not knowing when the song was going to be finished, or if there are words.
Glad to have you here…

I like that Tito got flowers. I think he liked them too.

Play Ball

When Matsuzaka was announced, the crowd reacted as expected. The national treasure has returned and was going to grace the faithful who watched this phenom mature and become a cult hero. The flashes were everywhere, recording the moment, which must have given Daisuke the heebie-jeebies. For the people of Japan, it must have been a bitter sweet moment. Kid has great talent, becomes a legend at a young age, then just like that, he lives and works in the USA. Sweet to have him home, but possibly bitter because the raid is on for the best Japan has to offer, with MLB spiriting away their prized stars. And according to some of the people I work with here in Japan, it is an issue, and some are pretty sore about it. Well that charge, being led by the astute commissioner, is perhaps for another day.

You already know that Daisuke was erratic and needed a couple of innings to settle down. Blanton pitched well. The disparity of hits and runs told the early tale, of course. But there were lots of cheers for let’s go Red Sox and the seesaw battle to hold the lead made for a lot of crowd involvement. The guys sitting behind us were from the Quincy, MA area, and seated next to them were guys from the San Francisco bay area. All were there mixing business schedules to include this game. Before long, we were all gibbering on about the players, the unfolding season, with a couple of jokes tossed in about Roger Clemens just for laughs. Without question, we wanted our respective teams to win, but more than that was the overwhelming feeling that just being there was really the big deal. Well, at least it was for me.

Some things that happen in the Tokyo Dome that are tied to the game include the bat boys/girls wearing helmets all the time. The field prep includes broom and dust pans. When a player hits a foul ball that heads into the stands, an announcement is made in English and Japanese to be careful. This happens every time. So by the time a guy is conked on the head, the announcement follows. Netting follows the field level seats all away around the field. I’m not sure if it’s a safety issue, or one tied to play, but diving into the stands to record an out is not a viable option. Or perhaps this netting was put in place as a Chris House rule; hard sayin, not knowin.

It took until reading this morning’s news paper to understand why Moss got the start. We had no idea Drew tweaked his bat. Not that it meant a downgrade, actually quite the opposite. Need to tie up a game? No problem, simply dial 1-800-MOSS. And who said Ellsbury needed to hone his defensive skills? The crowd went nuts when he made that great play, robbing Oakland of sure runs.

Speaking about the crowd and the Dome, the amount of ramp it up, get involved music, noise coming over the PA system was truly annoying. IT was out of balance, because the people in charge of these little motivational things did it for each team that was batting. So the Japanese really seemed not to know, or not caring, or perhaps it was AirBud insisting that equal treatment be given to each team. On second thought, it could not be the latter, because I saw coaches and support people there.

Julio Lugo grabbed his crotch. Yes, and more than once. I hope the Japanese people liked it. (Note from Cyn: I’m very disappointed there is no photo of this!)

Let’s eat!

Okay, this part is important. I mean, yes, we are in a baseball stadium, right? So what to eat? I ordered a couple of dogs, which were like any other ball park in America. Right down to the thinly sliced lettuce underneath the dog, you would never know the difference. Honestly, they were not bad, and contrasted to other parks in the US; they were in some cases better. Next time I’m back at Fenway, I’ll have to remember to peek in the bun to look for the lettuce. But at least they give you a big hot dog. Brenda had an ice cream sammich before the game, which is shaped like the Tokyo Dome.

Afterwards, she snacked on some sort of potato puffs. I really didn’t know what the other food choices were, but in typical style as seen in the windows of food shops and restaurants, the Japanese like to make actual displays of the items you might wish to consume. It would be simple to know what it is you were buying, if you knew what it was under the saran wrap. I’m sure after a couple of more games, you’d become familiar with it very quickly; all in all straight forward and orderly. Oh yeah, the food is as expensive as anywhere else.

For beverages, beer is sold via back pack dispensing, carried around by really cute girls. They wave at you and have the sale process down to a science. Beer vendors easily outnumbered soda vendors by a factor of three.

You never know who you’ll bump into at a baseball game

David Benoit was with Patrick the ticket guru. He’s a former NBA player, who logged a lot of time with Utah, the Nets and others. He was friendly, outgoing and yes, tall as all get out. He is living in Japan, coaching a team and trying to build basketball’s popularity here. He loves living in Japan and says in his first year, they averaged 500 fans a game. A year later, they are up to about 5,000. As for what was important? Mr. Benoit was Red Sox all the way!

And, Nick Cafardo had a feature column appear in the March 25^th edition of the Asahi Shimbun. For those whop do not know, it’s not contagious, or life threatening. It’s a Japanese newspaper.

We won the game!

Manny Ramirez has a lot of RBI’s and without really looking at a box score, I think, is the team leader. Sweet.

Leaving the Dome, security is there, as the blast of air at the door leading outside rushes at about 20 MPH, no joke! Weird stuff.

Off to see Lester!

Wednesday, March 26th

Well we saw Lester. We had good seats tonight, directly behind home plate, about the same distance from the field as last night. We were in front of the press boxes and could see Announcer Boy and the Remdog. I shouted hello to Jerry, just to aggravate him and remind him of where he was. He gave a head tilt, then I think he started swearing. No, he didn’t do that, he actually waved. No, he really didn’t do that either. Okay he did both.

As for the pre-game festivities, it was nothing like last night; not even close, although, the performance was still more than you’d see back home.

I’ve got more pictures, and I will send them along soon.

(Another note from Cyn:  All photos in this post were taken by Tru)