Hanshin Tigers in Osaka

After the ASLO meeting, we went over to Osaka for some sightseeing.  First on the list was a Hanshin Tigers baseball game.  We got to Koshien Stadium just in time for them to tell us the game was cancelled due to rain.  Being gaijin, we convinced the ticket taker to let us in to see the stadium anyhow. We sat in our seats and drank a beer with the few people that were as sad as we were about the game being cancelled. We were very interested in the sign with the rules on it at the stadium...the only part in English is very curious.



The next morning we met our friend, General Obuchi-san, who has moved to Kochi, on the mainland. It was super hot in Osaka, which is covered in concrete and super crowded. We went to Osaka castle and posed as Taco-yaki (octopus cooked in balls of batter).


After lunch we decided to go somewhere cool, and ended up at the Natural History Museum, where we learned about the lives of living things, among other interesting facts.  Who knew there was a beetle that puts its larvae into balls of cow dung that it makes? Outside the museum they were selling sips of sake that you could drink through the stem of a lotus leaf.

Dinner was Kushi-Katsu, deep fried pieces of meat, fish, or vegetables on sticks.  Oishi-katta des!

The next day we went to the Osaka Aquarium and saw lots of really cool animals, including sea otters and penguins! 

And we managed to get tickets to the nearly sold out Hanshin Tigers game for that night!  We got the "bleacher" seats that are made for Japanese people. It was a lot of fun and very interesting to see the differences from American baseball.  The beer girls (no beer guys) walk around with a keg on their backs!

 

We were told that the Tigers fans were the craziest fans of any baseball team.  They were definitely excited about everything, but I wouldn't call them crazy.  In fact, the cheers are all organized and each player has his own cheer when he is up to bat. When the other team is up to bat, everyone is silent, except for the cheering section for the visiting team. At the 7th inning stretch, there is no singing "Take me out to the ball game", but everyone lets these balloons go at the same time.  Check out the video below with clips from various parts of the game.