Japan Ball Game 5: Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles vs. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
After spending twelve days in and around Tokyo, it was time to really hit the road. Yalina’s flight back to the states was scheduled for the following evening. Rather than spend an extra day traveling all the way up to Sendai, she elected to spend a last night in Tokyo to take her time finishing up some shopping and get a final bowl of ramen.
Logistically speaking, this was the most challenging game to attend. Clint and I would have to travel from Tokyo to Sendai, find the stadium, watch the game, sleep fast, and get back to Tokyo on the first train to meet Yalina and check out of our apartment. On the other hand, when else would we have the opportunity to make such an unusual day trip? We had no choice but to rise to the occasion.
Train travel in Japan is an incredible experience. While riding the rails in Europe can feel wistful and nostalgic, commuting via Shinkansen in Japan is mechanical and precise. Sleek, futuristic trains arrive and depart exactly as scheduled, silently gliding into stations to allow passengers to alight and then quickly absorbing a fresh batch of commuters.
While bullet trains are the best way to get around between the major cities on Honshu, it can be cost prohibitive for the unprepared traveler. If you intend to visit Japan for any length of time, it’s well worth considering the purchase of a JR rail pass. We purchased a seven day pass for $250 before leaving San Francisco. Once activated, the pass entitles the holder to unlimited travel on JR trains (a major commuter rail operator, particularly useful in Tokyo) and most Shinkansen trains for the duration of the pass. Considering that the price to take a bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and is about $230, buying the pass was a no brainer.
Clint and I each packed a backpack, activated our JR passes, and hit the road. The ride to Sendai is about an hour. We took the train from Tokyo Station to Sendai Station and enjoyed beers and bentos on the train as we watched the countryside zip by.
Kobo Stadium, home of the Golden Eagles, is a ten minute ride on the JR Senseki line from Sendai Station. The subway entrance even wears a hat to support the local squad.
Emerging from the station, we followed the crowd through a modest tailgate and into the stadium store. Eagles fans are big on towel scarves and, to my extreme delight, pins. I took the opportunity to load up on souvenirs for my friends back home.
We entered the stadium and an usher led us to our (accidentally excellent) seats. Of all the ballparks we visited, Kobo Stadium had the most frills. From small, booth-like tables lining the aisles behind home plate, the multiple sports bars serving all manner of alcohol, to the freaking Ferris wheel in left field, even an extremely casual fan could find something fun to do at Kobo Stadium.
While we didn’t ride the Ferris wheel, Clint and I seized the opportunity to guzzle frozen foam beers. During our 2015 trip to Japan, we stumbled upon a Kirin branded beer garden that gave us our first taste of this icy delight. We intended to make another visit only to find that the beer garden had been closed. Noticing that frozen foam beer was on the menu, Clint seized the opportunity.
Even though the beer itself isn’t frozen, chasing a mouthful of slushy foam with a cold crisp lager marries the best parts of a Slurpee and the legal drinking age. If anyone brought this stuff to MLB stadiums, it would sell like gangbusters.
The evening’s game saw the Eagles pitted against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Fukuoka is located on the island of Kyushu and is 900 miles from Sendai. Fittingly, the away fans were in the extreme minority and sparsely populated their lone section of seats. At the time of the game, the Eagles held a one game advantage over the Hawks. The desire to preserve the lead in the standings added some urgency to the contest.
As an Eagles fan for the evening, I was shocked to discover that a former Rockie was also in the house. Kazuo Matsui, who had played with the Rockies from 2006–2007, was patrolling left field. Post game research revealed that Matsui has been playing with the Eagles since 2011 and had even won a Japan Series with them in 2013. Way to go, Kaz!
This game would turn out to be an incredible pitchers duel as the Eagles’ Takahiro Norimoto faced off against the Hawks’ Rick van den Hurk. The first three innings came and went with no score with Norimoto narrowly escaping damage as the Eagles defense backed him up with a couple of double plays.
The fourth inning saw the Hawks manufacture a run off of a leadoff single and a one out double. In the bottom of the inning, the incredibly named Zelous Wheeler blasted a home run for the Eagles to knot the game at one. After that brief flurry of offense, both pitchers settled in for a few more scoreless innings.
In between the sixth and seventh innings, the smattering of Hawks fans in attendance were put front and center on the jumbotron as they inflated their yellow balloon jets and let them fly. I thought it was a sporting gesture to allow the away crowd to have their moment to represent for their squad.
The Eagles’ Lucky 7 celebration was one of the more enthusiastic ones we were party to. Not a fan in the house was without a red balloon jet, not even the elderly dudes sitting next to us. Everyone sang and danced with gusto as they let the balloons fly.
As the spent rubber rained down on us, the aisles were suddenly swarming with children. They dove and scrambled at everyone’s feet to collect the balloons and stuff them in their pockets. Later, when we left the game, we saw a line of children shoveling balloons onto a digital scale at a tent in the tailgate area. The more weight they could deliver, the better the prize they’d receive.
In the Eagles side of the seventh inning, our boy Kaz Matsui worked a two out walk. The next batter popped a shallow fly-ball into center field. The Hawks fielder charged towards the falling baseball but flubbed on an attempted sliding catch. The ball skipped away and allowed Matsui to score from first. At 41 years old, he ran like the best of them that day.
In the eighth inning, the Eagles would knock their second home run of the evening. Japhet Amador is the 6'4", 300+ pound designated hitter for the Eagles. Japhet Amador is also the owner of the excellent nickname El Gigante de Mulegé. The first time I saw him saunter up to the plate, I was stunned by his size. His swing is a graceless hack of the arms but, in his fourth trip to the plate, he connected for a ringing solo shot followed by a shuffling trot around the bases.
The Eagles managed another run in the inning for a final score of 4–1. Norimoto earned the win after eight innings of one run ball. After the closer mopped everything up, Eagles fans reached for their white balloon jets. The victory song was sung, thousands of white balloons were loosed, and a swarm of children gathered up the leavings.
Even though the game was over, Clint and I had another adventure ahead of us. Since we were set to leave on the first train in the morning, we decided to spend the night in a capsule hotel. For about $30, if you miss the last train home and can’t swing the cab fare, you can pass the evening in a cozy pod surrounded by other urban campers.
We’d each reserved a “room” in advance and were each given a key, slippers, a robe, and a toothbrush. Adjacent to the lobby was a locker room where we changed into our fresh duds and washed up before tucking into our suites.
Even though the pods were spotlessly clean, objectively comfortable, and entirely convenient for our purposes, I can’t earnestly recommend this type of lodging. Many of our fellow patrons snored like the best of them and the privacy screen at the foot of each pod did little to shield us from their comings and goings. Regardless, capsule hotels will certainly do in a pinch and are worth rolling the dice if you want to experience something that is totally unique to Japan.
The following morning, we woke, showered, ate, and hopped on the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. We had a big day ahead of us as we would say farewell to Yalina and say hello to Japan’s second city, Osaka.
7/26/17 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 4, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 1. Box Score
On deck Japan Ball Game 6: Hanshin Tigers vs. Yokohama DeNA Baystars
