Day Thirty One: Fukuzumi

it's 7am and Marcelo knocks on my door.

my original plan was to take trains all the way to the largest city on the northern island of Japan, Sapporo. the trip would have taken around eight hours. i've become so accustomed to trains, that it wouldn't have really mattered to me. that stale beer and cigarette smell is like home now in a strange way, only because i sleep on trains, or i write.

but as always, plans change. Marcelo bought me a one way ticket to the city on an airplane. he drives me to the airport in the morning and drops me off after feeding me some curry and rice, eggs and toast.

that man is as good as gold.

he drops me off there and i'm sitting in the airport in Toyama, waiting for my plane to Sapporo. i board the plane. it probably is only holding 15% of its available capacity, so everyone changes their seats so they sit by a window.

it's an hour flight and i'm on the ground in Sapporo. it's cold and wet, but i'm not sick anymore. i make my way to the place where i will stay. Marcelo gave me money for a place to stay, so i picked a guesthouse in a southern part of the city.

as i'm on a train there, i see people wearing outfits like they're going to a huge sporting event.

i ask around and as it turns out, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and the Hiroshima Hanshin Tigers will be playing a game at 2pm in the Sapporo Dome, a huge stadium that doubles as a baseball field and football stadium.

i check into my place after a short trip on the subway. i ask the woman working there how to get to the game. she tells me, and i'm off like its springtime on the farm.

for 1500yen, i get into the game at the Sapporo Dome, but of course, just like in american baseball, nobody stays in the seats they buy tickets for, so i get into the place and kinda look around for a better place to sit. i meander around the lower bowl sections for a while and try to sneak into where the band is playing.

allow me to explain for a moment.

Japanese baseball is unlike anything i have ever seen at an American baseball game. the stadium was divided into two halves, one half rooting for the Ham Fighters and the other for the Hanshin Tigers. each section had their own band that played in the upper area of the seating, and when their team was up to bat, it was a constant, nonstop cacophony of cheers and songs. people with megaphones seated at the lower parts of the dome screamed up to everyone what they would cheer, and people held up big signs showing what the next cheer would be.

everyone was incredibly spirited and showed more enthusiasm at that game than i have ever seen at any sporting event in America.

the Japanese love their baseball. there was not an empty seat in the entire place.

except one.

i eventually found my way into one of these lower sections, past two levels of security, before sitting down and enjoying the game for five minutes before being yelled at and escorted out of the section by the stadium guards.

as i was on my way, everyone was yelling, smiling, and giving me high fives for the courage i had to at least make it that far.

they let me stay in the place, so i walked up into the upper levels, where i was really supposed to be, and was pleasantly surprised that my spot was next to the official game organist. do they still even have those in America or has everything been replaced with recordings?


i arrived at the game in the second inning, and stayed until the eleventh. i started to feel like my stomach was going to eat itself, and rather than stay and spend 1500yen on a hot dog or something, i figured it would be best to just head on home. the game was tied, and i didn't see an end in sight.

so i headed on out--i saw that it was still raining through the windows of the dome. i snapped a picture of these two spirited young Hanshin Tigers fans and wondered to myself, why would anyone want to fight a ham anyway? why would anyone name their team the Ham Fighters?

i found out later that the actual name of the team is just the Fighters, and they are owned by the company Nippon Ham. so, the full name of their team is the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

i was happy i was able to leave without being in an all out, old-fashioned shake down with a ham.

in the end, after the twelfth inning, the teams called it a draw. if only they hadn't settled with the draw and instead gone into sudden death-- it would have involved the wrestling of a ham.

only in my dreams.