Day 20: Fukuoka

I had 2 options for today. Join the group for a trip to Nagasaki or explore Fukuoka on my own. I've been in both cities during my first time in Japan back in 2000 and since I had found out that the local baseball team "Fukuoka Softbank Hawks" had a home game against the Yokohama Bay Stars, I decided to skip Nagasaki and go to the match instead. I had agreed with the tourguide that he would let me know if he could get tickets for the game.

So I slept late and walked around for a while in the city center, going in and out of shops, in search for a last souvenir or something that would interest me. I then returned to my hotel halfway during the afternoon to see if I got a message from the tourguide about the tickets. No message and when I called him, there was no answer.

So I checked at the reception of the hotel on how to get tickets and they told me, after checking on the club's website, that the game was not sold out yet.

So, I took my change and headed for the stadium to see where and if I could get tickets. I didn't go for the black market tickets, which were offered to me. I checked in line for the registers and looked at the ground map of where I could sit. Then I was approached by 2 men, who were italians. They had 5 tickets for the game, but only 4 had shown up. The 5th person couldn't make it and they wanted to sell their ticket. I was offered the ticket for a bit lowet then the actual price, so I took their offer and joined them for the game, husband and wife and 2 sons.

The seats they had tickets for were great, pretty close to the field and in between 3rd base and home plate! Great view of the stadium and close to the action on the pitch.

I had been to a baseball match in the Netherlands and a Yankee game in New York, but this would become the best baseball game I had ever been to as it turned out.

The announcer, an american who spoke fluent japanse, introduced both teams and cheerleaders entertained us during the preparation of the field and the warmup. The match started with the 1st half of the 1st inning with the away team, the Bay Stars, hitting first and the away fans started cheering, singing and making music during their teams batting. When it was time for the home team, the Hawks, to bat, 2nd half of the first inning, the home crowd take their turn with cheering, singing and making music.

It was a pretty even game, with the Hawks scoring the first run in the 2nd half of the 2nd inning.

The Bay Stars scored runs in the 1st half of the 5th and 6th inning to take a 2-1 lead, but the Hawks made a run in the 2nd half of the 6th inning to tie the game at 2-2. It wasn't till the 1st half of the 9th inning that the Bay Stars scored 3 runs to make it 5-2. The Hawks had the 2nd half of the 9th inning to at least tie the game or maybe win it, but they didn't score, meaning that Yokohama won the game.

During the break between halves in the 7th inning, for baseball fans also known as the 7th inning break, the home fans started blowing up yellow balloons. Prior to the start of the 7th inning, the away team had their chance to play and sing along with their club anthem (or so it seems), and now it was the turn for the home team fans. Slowly but steadily, the stadium was turning into a sea of yellow balloons and I figured as much as 30.

000 balloons had been blown up. I had no idea what to expect, but when the music stopped, everyone let go of their balloons and they deflated in the air, causing a swarm of yellow balloons scattering all over the place. It was great fun to witness.

After the game, I made my way back to the hotel, to find the group had arrived only just before I got back.

I had enjoyed another highlight of my Japan holiday. The atmosphere and enthusiasm of the crowd made it a fantastic experience to have been part of! I can highly recommend to get tickets for a game if you like baseball or just want to see a sporting event in Japan.