6 Reasons Baseball Games in Japan Are Way More Fun
For those who haven’t met Ray, it’s important to note that he’s a big baseball fan. Like, the level of fandom that’s rare to see in anyone under the age of 70. We lived right across the street from Coors Field in Denver for awhile for easy access to games, he’s never left a game before it’s fully OVER, and he belongs to a fantasy baseball league (with only old men).
That said, attending a baseball game in Japan was an absolute mandatory for us during our 2-week Japanese journey.
Japanese baseball took off after an American All-Star team visited for a 12-city tour in 1934, and has since become one of the most popular sports to both play and watch.
Back in the U.S, I limit myself to just a few baseball games per season. I love the scenic stadiums, the people-watching, and the general fanfare, but whoever created the game duration at nine innings was kidding himself. That or attention spans have drastically decreased since the MLB was founded in the eighteen-hundreds. In no world do I need to snack, drink, and people watch for three hours.
Knowing how the Japanese tend to put a kawaii and fun twist on everything, I was excited to compare the general atmosphere of a baseball game in Japan to one back home. Of course, we were in for a treat.
We went to a Hanshin Tigers game at Koshien Stadium about a 40 minute subway ride outside of Osaka.
And here’s what we found. Six reasons Japanese baseball games are more fun than American baseball games.
1. The Swag
When you attend a baseball game in the U.S, you’re likely to see quite a few people wearing the local or opposing team’s apparel. But where swag and souvenirs are concerned, that’s about it.
Japanese baseball games are on a whole different level. We arrived to the stadium pretty early (you know, so Ray could really explore the scenery and not risk the chance of missing one second of the game) and the first thing we saw when stepping off the subway was a giant gift shop.
All of the fans around us were either wearing Hanshin Tigers gear already, or were in line at the gift shop to get more. We realized we’d better suit up and join the crowd in showing our spirit, and could also pick up some souvenirs for family back home.
We weren’t really in the know on the best swag yet, but we did end up getting a cool t-shirt for Ray’s dad and some small keychains and stuff. One of our favorite things were the paper masks of the players’ faces, which looked hilarious in photos and IRL.
Want to get prepared with swag before you get there? Pick up one of these incredibly cool Hanshin Tigers hats, sweats, or tees.
Ray, is that you? Everyone in the back seems v confused by our photo taking.
It turns out that along with all the apparel, noise making souvenirs are very popular at Japanese games, including plastic baseball bats that are widespread throughout the crowd and used to clap along to the rhythm of the various cheers.
That brings us to the next best thing about Japanese baseball games…
2. The Cheers
So back home, we know that every player has a walk up song (one of my personal favorite parts of the game), and once in awhile a player gets a nickname or something. But in Japan, every player has an actual CHEER that the audience knows and sings, clapping their noise makers along loudly and stomping their feet every time the player is up at bat (and for most other reasons throughout the game as well).
Although we had no idea what the crowd was saying, it made for a much more fun environment because everyone was engaged the whole time rather than passively spectating.
3. BYO food and drinks...and delicious stadium food
This one’s super different from the U.S., where a beer at a game costs more than double the price it would outside the stadium but it’s your only option. In Japan, you can bring whatever food and drinks you want in, including beer and sake. It’s basically a big ol’ party where everyone’s getting drunk and in a good mood.
If you choose to purchase food there, the stadium food is truly on point — just like all food in Japan. We were surprised to see people eating what looked like normal meals you’d eat anywhere else: curry, yakitori, noodles, rice bowls, ramen. Certainly not your average ball park frank (although those are available if you wish)!
4. Refillable beer cups and beer girls
The only reason not to bring ALL your own drinks is because you’ll definitely want to purchase a beer from the beer girls.
These women are one of the best and most unique parts of a baseball game in Japan! They walk around the stadium with giant beer kegs strapped to their backs hawking their brand of beer, and at the raise of a hand, they’ll fill you up a tall, cold draft.
We forget how much these cost, but from what we recall, they were a normal Japanese beer price rather than the typical stadium markups in the U.S. Check out the video below for a sense of the general atmosphere, beer girls and all.
5. Cheerleaders and marching bands
While the MLB struggles to make baseball games fun for the younger generations, Japan already has it all figured out. Why doesn’t baseball back home have dancers and marching bands anyway? It was reminiscent of a high school or college football game in all the best and most hilarious ways.
6. The 7th inning...stretch?
If you’ve attended an American baseball game, you know about the 7th inning stretch. That part of the game (when the game should already be over, IMO) in the middle of the 7th inning where the whole crowd stands up, stretches (because they have been sitting for 2+ hours already), looks around for even more fun people to people-watch (in my case), and sings “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” or some other team or city-specific tune.
Well, since Hanshin Tigers fans are pretty much singing and chanting throughout the ENTIRE game, they came up with a different tradition for the 7th inning, and it’s way more fun. Everyone brings a balloon and a pump to the game (or buys it at the gift shop, or gets one shared with them by a neighboring fan) and blows them all up at the same time. Then, all at the same point during a specific song, everyone lets go and thousands of yellow balloons whiz into the sky at once. Our favorite part! Check it out on video here.
Well, I think it’s pretty clear. We gave baseball to Japan, and they made it way better — as they tend to do with most things. Now, a question for both countries: how about shortening those games?
We also wanted to leave you with a few tips for attending a Hanshin Tigers game at Koshien Stadium just outside of Osaka:
How to get tickets to a Japanese baseball game: If the Tigers are playing a decent team, the games are usually considerably crowded even on week nights, so it’s advisable to get a ticket ahead of time. This site describes four different ways to get tickets to a Hanshin Tigers game. We followed suggestion #1. We read some forums and followed instructions to purchase tickets from an official Hanshin Tigers site like this one before we even arrived in Japan, then we showed our confirmation on our phone at a ticket booth when we arrived at Koshien Stadium and they converted them to paper tickets for us. It was a bit of a confusing experience because it’s tough to make sure you’re purchasing the tickets the right way as everything is translated from Japanese, and then a bit hard to figure out what to do when you arrive at the stadium, but we figured it out and you can definitely do the same!
How to get to Koshien Stadium from Osaka: Public transportation is super. From central Osaka (Umeda), find the Hanshin train line and ride a Limited Express or Express to Koshien station. If in doubt, there'll be millions of very-obviously-dressed Tigers fans so just get on the same train.
Tips for after the game: If you stay until the end of the game, expect huge crowds and long lines to get on the subway back to Osaka. Locals recommend posting up at a bar nearby to wait things out for a bit. Unfortunately we didn’t have this advice in advance and waited quite awhile in a giant, but always very orderly, crowd.
Any questions about baseball games in Japan or travel to Japan in general? Leave us a comment below or on our latest IG post!
Happy travels!
