Japan Chapter 3. In which our heroine goes to Tokorozawa and cheers for the Fighters.
I have more time to write this entry, sort of. I'm not sure what my internet situation will be like in Osaka... whether there will be an internet cafe right by the place I'm staying or not. So I may not update for a few days. We'll see. I should be leaving sometime tomorrow morning, around 11ish or so.
Today I started out the day by going to Harajuku. I had two purposes: get postcards and stop by Bookoff. I went to the Meiji Jingu temple -- well, actually, I went to the gift shop at Jingu, bought postcards, and decided that it was too fucking hot out to bother walking the rest of the way to a temple I've already been to several times and may end up going to with other people next time around here anyway. I walked up Takeshitadori to the Bookoff, and didnt actually buy anything at Bookoff, but at least it was airconditioned. I got a cool Akihabara towel at a store on Takeshita, and I also got totally awesome cheap useful subway maps at Daiso. Yay for Daiso.
After that I went to the Tokyo Dome and to the TO:DO shop, which is like heaven on earth, except everything costs too much. So, I was very very good and only bought an Ogasawara jersey since I've only wanted one for like, three years. Yeah. I saw a ton of Shinjo crap with all the Fighters stuff too, and one lady was talking about him in Japanese next to me, she was trying to remember where he had played in America, so I piped up with "Mets, and Giants", and she was like, "Oh, do you like Shinjo?" and I was like "well.. uhhh... not exactly... that whole 'baka kakkoi' thing is pretty dumb... I love Ogasawara though! He's a great person!" and her group all laughed.
But goddamn there was so much stuff there I wanted. Oh, Oren, if you see this -- they have Slyly dolls there at the Tokyo Dome store so I may not need to get you one in Hiroshima, possibly...
Anyway, after like an hour of convincing myself to not spend a lot of money, I went around taking pictures at the Dome. It turns out there was some big final of the industrial leagues today, they had a tournament going on for the last week. I wish I had known, or I would have tried to go, but alas, I needed to see my Fighters, dammit.
So![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lqiu and I met up at the Dome and made our way out to Tokorozawa and the Seibu Dome. That place is insane. Outfield unreserved is basicallly... one gigantic slanted hill of turf. No joke. We went to the visiting side, which happened to be left field at this stadium... we got there an hour early and it was already completely full of other crazy people in Fighters gear. We found a small empty patch of turf and sat down. Some people behind us had these inflatable dolphins they were using to cheer with, and they actually gave me one! That was pretty cool. I also went and asked the Oendan folk for the lyrics sheet and they gave me that too (but it was out of date a little, it still had Sanematsu on it for example).
The game sort of sucked, Satoru Kanemura gave up a grand slam to Toru Hosokawa and the Lions won it 6-2, but that's okay, I had a blast singing and cheering and yelling my lungs out. Even Li had to go buy noisemakers halfway through because he said he'd hurt his hands otherwise. He also bought me a whole bunch of crazy fruity drinks like peach juice and grapefruit juice and whatnot. I kept score of this game too, and I took a few pictures but not many -- not only is the lighting awful at the Seibu Dome but theres this gigantic fence surrounding the outfield. Also, the guy sitting next to me got a ball off a ground rule double late in the game. That's like the second time in two days now.
It's really cool to be in a whole sea of Fighters fans. We COMPLETELY filled up the left field area and then some. Last time I went to a Fighters game in Chiba, we barely filled up anything, though it was pretty chilly and a weekday, as opposed to today where it was hot out and a Sunday. Still. It was AWESOME! (and again, I was the only white person I saw anywhere in the park)
Li and I came back to Ikebukuro after the game and got kaiten sushi and it was awesome. And now I am here at the internet cafe again and stuff.
Having a blast, will start writing postcards on the train tomorrow I'm sure, since I'll have three hours by myself to waste. Whee.
Today I started out the day by going to Harajuku. I had two purposes: get postcards and stop by Bookoff. I went to the Meiji Jingu temple -- well, actually, I went to the gift shop at Jingu, bought postcards, and decided that it was too fucking hot out to bother walking the rest of the way to a temple I've already been to several times and may end up going to with other people next time around here anyway. I walked up Takeshitadori to the Bookoff, and didnt actually buy anything at Bookoff, but at least it was airconditioned. I got a cool Akihabara towel at a store on Takeshita, and I also got totally awesome cheap useful subway maps at Daiso. Yay for Daiso.
After that I went to the Tokyo Dome and to the TO:DO shop, which is like heaven on earth, except everything costs too much. So, I was very very good and only bought an Ogasawara jersey since I've only wanted one for like, three years. Yeah. I saw a ton of Shinjo crap with all the Fighters stuff too, and one lady was talking about him in Japanese next to me, she was trying to remember where he had played in America, so I piped up with "Mets, and Giants", and she was like, "Oh, do you like Shinjo?" and I was like "well.. uhhh... not exactly... that whole 'baka kakkoi' thing is pretty dumb... I love Ogasawara though! He's a great person!" and her group all laughed.
But goddamn there was so much stuff there I wanted. Oh, Oren, if you see this -- they have Slyly dolls there at the Tokyo Dome store so I may not need to get you one in Hiroshima, possibly...
Anyway, after like an hour of convincing myself to not spend a lot of money, I went around taking pictures at the Dome. It turns out there was some big final of the industrial leagues today, they had a tournament going on for the last week. I wish I had known, or I would have tried to go, but alas, I needed to see my Fighters, dammit.
So
lqiu and I met up at the Dome and made our way out to Tokorozawa and the Seibu Dome. That place is insane. Outfield unreserved is basicallly... one gigantic slanted hill of turf. No joke. We went to the visiting side, which happened to be left field at this stadium... we got there an hour early and it was already completely full of other crazy people in Fighters gear. We found a small empty patch of turf and sat down. Some people behind us had these inflatable dolphins they were using to cheer with, and they actually gave me one! That was pretty cool. I also went and asked the Oendan folk for the lyrics sheet and they gave me that too (but it was out of date a little, it still had Sanematsu on it for example).The game sort of sucked, Satoru Kanemura gave up a grand slam to Toru Hosokawa and the Lions won it 6-2, but that's okay, I had a blast singing and cheering and yelling my lungs out. Even Li had to go buy noisemakers halfway through because he said he'd hurt his hands otherwise. He also bought me a whole bunch of crazy fruity drinks like peach juice and grapefruit juice and whatnot. I kept score of this game too, and I took a few pictures but not many -- not only is the lighting awful at the Seibu Dome but theres this gigantic fence surrounding the outfield. Also, the guy sitting next to me got a ball off a ground rule double late in the game. That's like the second time in two days now.
It's really cool to be in a whole sea of Fighters fans. We COMPLETELY filled up the left field area and then some. Last time I went to a Fighters game in Chiba, we barely filled up anything, though it was pretty chilly and a weekday, as opposed to today where it was hot out and a Sunday. Still. It was AWESOME! (and again, I was the only white person I saw anywhere in the park)
Li and I came back to Ikebukuro after the game and got kaiten sushi and it was awesome. And now I am here at the internet cafe again and stuff.
Having a blast, will start writing postcards on the train tomorrow I'm sure, since I'll have three hours by myself to waste. Whee.