Hiroshima Carp Baseball

Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium

Our tickets, Y1600 each (approx. $20.50)
Notice on the bottom right of the ticket 7i, that is where we bought them
7i is literally 7-11 here, minus the gas & Slurpee's

View of the stadium from our seats
We bought "general admission" seats, basically it is the entire upper deck of the stadium

Notice the seats have no backs to them
The section on the left is the Carps "Official" cheering section
This area has a band (think college football) that plays during every at bat for the Carp

Visitors "Official" cheering section, and yes they bring the band with them too!

Why has the states not caught on to this...The beer girls carry kegs
Nice Ice Cold Beer...if you like Asahi & Kirin

Kirin Keg

Carp mascot Slyly! (His jersey # is !)
He reminds me of Hamlet @ L.E. Storm Stadium

Carp Slurpee...it was some sort of blackberry slush
It was yummy and very cold

Jon & Tracy

Jon with his Carp Balloon
So instead of a 7th inning stretch, they blow up these huge balloons, and then let them go
The balloons whistle, and then fall to the ground....Really!

Hiroshima Carp Logo

The Shin (Bullet train) leaving Hiroshima Station

Starting to look gloomy....thank goodness we are on the train

Leaving the Hiroshima train station



Pouring down rain somewhere between Hiroshima & Iwakuni



On Saturday June 25th, we caught the local city train from Iwakuni to Hiroshima to take in a Japanese baseball game with some friends. The game was between the Hiroshima Carp and the Nagoya Chinuchi Dragons. (Also known as the team Tom Selleck played for in the film Mr. Baseball)

The train ride took about an hour, and it was very full. The closer we got to Hiroshima, the more people got on the train. I now know what a sardine feels like!

From the train station, we had to walk about 3/4 mile to the stadium. There were vendors everywhere selling Carp gear as well as food & drinks. As we got to the stadium, we started to notice some differences between Japan & the states. When you get closer to the gates, there are cup stations, where you dump your drinks into large cups to take them in the stadium. You can literally bring your own water, beer, etc, to the game, as long as you pour it in the cup they give you. They do not allow plastic, glass or cans in the stadium for safety purposes, plus the Japanese are big on recycling!

The food at the stadium is way different. You can get hot dogs, cooked in a yummy sauce on a stick, you can get a corn dog (tempura battered), you can also get one wrapped in what looked like a baguette. The big thing in Japan is noodles. Everyone was having ramen at the stadium! Nothing like hot ramen in soup while watching baseball!

The game was fun, and hot. It was close to 90 degrees, and very humid (think 90%). We were all melting. Jon managed to find something like a Slurpee, which was yummy, and icy.

Some differences we noticed at the game:
* The Japanese do not play the National Anthem prior to the game, they do it after the game.

* Each team has an "Official" cheering section, with a band and huge flags.

* Each teams band, plays the entire time that they are at bat, and plays a different song for each player.

* Japanese scoreboards are confusing. They do not show the at bat players picture, nor jersey number.

  It only shows what position number they play.

* Japanese pitchers bat....oh yea, kinda funny to see batting averages of 0.59

* Every other inning, the grounds crew comes out to rake and water down the field (takes forever)

* There is no "7th inning stretch"...just blow up a balloon, and let it fly

* Japanese baseball teams are allowed 2 "non-national" players...and most of them are from the Dominican.

  Talk about confused....a spanish speaking ballplayer in Japan!

After the game, we stopped at what our friends call the "Butt face Cafe"....the character on the outside has a huge butt-chin, so they have named it the "Butt face Cafe". It is a yummy Ramen House, and full of Carp fans after games. Jon and I split an order of chicken (tempura/panko crusted chicken) and a large bowl of ramen with steamed pork dumplings and green onions...yep we no longer can share ramen...it is too good to share.

After dinner, we walked back to the train station, and caught the train back to Iwakuni. We were so happy to be able to sit in an air conditioned train, and relax. As we got closer to home, it was getting cloudier...big black clouds. It rained a little on the way back, but was dry when we got to the Iwakuni station. Our friends met us at the Crossroads (ATM is there), and so they dropped us off there to get our car, and it was pouring. What would usually take us 2 minutes to drive home, took longer as we could not see the road, it was raining that hard. Once we got home, we ran to the house, and still got drenched...what a great way to end a great day!!