Thursday, July 28, 2011

Play ball!!







Yesterday John and I took my family to Tokyo to catch a Yomiuri Giants baseball game. Baseball is bigger in Japan then it is in the US and the cheering at a Japanese baseball game is way more spirited than at US games.

When your team is a bat, a cheering section (that includes a live brass band and cheerleaders) leads the stadium in various types of cheers. Fans carry baseball bat shaped drum sticks and beat them together in time with the cheers.

When your team is playing the outfield, the home cheering section remains quiet and the away team's cheering section starts with their chants and brass band. I would compare it to sitting at a European soccer game, but watching baseball.

The teams have many American players as the US often recruits players from the Japanese leagues. So when they come across an American last name like Fields, the chant becomes Feedosu.

Food is different as well. Below is a picture of a bento box I had at the ball park. I also had a cheesy hotdog and some sho-chu, a barley alcohol.

Also, fans can sit behind the last row of stands and watch the game. Many people tape paper to the floor and then watch the game from their paper mat (picture below).






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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Shrines in Kamakura

Some pictures of the beautiful shrines we saw in the city of Kamakura.












































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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Hello, hello, hello!

Alrighty, we have our good computer set up now and I have so many pictures and stories to share!! I can't wait. Today was the Summer Festival in Ikego so we got to see a parade of the Buddhist variety as we were on our way to visit Wylee. It was pretty neat.

My family gets here at 5pm tonight and they're going to help us with the unpacking. John and I have already made a dent, but there's still a lot of stuff that needs to be done. Our house looks horrible, but with 5 people helping to unpack, it should go fast and we'll have a cozy home in no time.

On that note, I think I'm going to take a blog break for just a few days and then I'll be back and blogging in full force. I'm excited to finally have my life back and after my family leaves, I can't wait to settle into a routine.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Tropical Storm 08W (Ma-on)

The typhoon has been downgraded to tropical storm. The good news is that Yokosuka will take a brunt of the storm sometime tonight into tomorrow. I've closed all of our storm windows, which might be overkill according to our Japanese neighbors who have none of their storm windows drawn.....but with winds gusting up to 55mph, I don't want to take the chance that some wayward branch is going to come flying through one of our balcony windows while we sleep.

Tropical Storm 08W (Ma-on), # 20 - Pacific Storm Tracker - Stripes

Typhoon!!

There's a big typhoon on the way! It's supposed to be in Yokosuka on Thursday night and then clear up this weekend. I'll keep you guys updated. They're rumoring a base closure.


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