Little Toy Robot

Ever since LTR—a life-long baseball fanatic—started watching anime, he has been intrigued by Japanese baseball. (Even though the only anime he has seen that even references the sport is FLCL.)

American Major League Baseball kicked off its 2004 season with two games in Japan between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Yankees have an unbelievable lineup this year, and they’re showcasing former Yomiuri Giants slugger Hideki Matsui, who made the leap from Japan to America in 2003 and remains extremely popoular across the Pacific. Despite the fact that the Yankees’ payroll is six times larger than that of the Devil Rays, Tampa pounded the Yankee pitching, and won 8-3.

It’s fun to note some of the differences between attending a baseball game in America and Japan.

Women in pink-and-green kimonos presented Torre and Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella with bouquets. Many of the ads on the outfield walls were in Japanese kanji script, and women vendors walked through the aisles selling whiskey.

At the Tokyo Dome there are “sushi stands and sake bars,” while in America, allowing for some regional variation, you will find hot dogs (or other even less friendly sausages) and lousy beer in plastic bottles.

However:

Some of the Japanese fans wore green Statue of Liberty foams on their heads. And when Matsui came to the plate, they banged their Thunder Stix.

Which goes to prove that baseball is a sport that unifies diverse cultures, at least in the act of wearing goofy head-dressing and pounding pieces of plastic together to make noise. It’s a beautiful thing.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 30th, 2004 at 9:54 am and is filed under baseball.