Baseball is different in Japan

Before going into the park, we pick up some supplies for the game -

- beer, dried squid, and balloons. Stan picked up the jersey for Tiger closer Fujikawa.

We have seats in the Right field bleachers, out of reach of any potential home run balls short of a Barry Bondesque steroid era blast. Hayley's friend got us tickets in the section known for the rowdiest and loudest fans - roughly equivalent to the Cubs bleacher fans, or the Oakland Raider "black hole". That is "rowdy" in a polite Japanese way of course. One big difference is the well organized and enthusiastic singing and cheering.

Some scenes from the game:

Stan gets his nicotine fix by joining some fans under the seats in smoker prison and taking a few deep breaths.

Typical basefall fare - Tagoyaki - breaded and fried octopus balls.

Some things are universal.

A tradition at Honshi Stadium is the release of the lucky balloons during seventh inning stretch.

The balloons worked. The Tigers broke a tie game with two runs in the bottom of the seventh and went on to win 4-3.