Yokohama-mama!

I am pleased to report that I successfully navigated the train system and made it to Yokohama. There's a non-stop train from Kawasaki (15 minutes), but the difficulty was trying to figure out how to buy a ticket from the machines when the maps are not in English. I had to default to the ticket office, which was a pleasant experience.

Once I got to Yokohama, I changed to a local train in order to head to the port area (Minato Mirai). The area is supposed to be geared for visitors. There's a lovely park at the waterfront, next to the convention center along with a "boardwalk". Most people were sitting, having lunch and watching the boats in the water. I was surprised to see this guy in his suit actually laying on the concrete step. I know Japan is clean but I couldn't even sit on the step in white pants without first sitting on something!

The tallest building in Yokohama is located in the area (left photo), which I had originally thought I would go visit. But after walking down to the waterfront I thought the huge ferris wheel would be a better way to see the area. It's like the London Eye - a leisurely one rotation ride. I got to have my own pod - whoo hoo!



After a wonderful sushi lunch (sushi in Houston pales in comparison....how will I be able to eat that stuff again?), I went looking for the Hard Rock Cafe in order to pick up a key chain for one of my colleagues who collects them. I figured I had about 2 hours to kill before I should head to the baseball stadium so the Yokohama Museum of Art seemed to be the perfect place. They had a special exhibit of French 19th century art, much of it from Japanese collections, including Yokohama's museum. Nice to be able to see pieces that aren't in the Musee de Orsay.

Around 4:30 pm I took another local train to the baseball stadium. Thank goodness I found a blog earlier that explained which station to get off. There were a number of people on the train going to the game even at 1.5 hours prior to game time. I heard that baseball games are quite well attended in Japan so I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't be able to get a ticket. No problem when you get there early!

4,000 yen later and I have a seat in the left field line...my favorite section. Unfortunately the ticket office only takes cash (they aren't even automated....you tell them which section you want and they flip through printed tickets to find a seat for you) and I needed to find an ATM to get more cash or else I would be hungry all evening. I also read in the blog that people bring their own food into the stadium and there were street vendors outside of the train station selling bento boxes and other items for hungry fans. So off I went to look for an ATM that accepts international cards (not easy).

Oh thank heaven for 7-11! Not only did I pick up some cash, I got my beverages and some inari sushi along with lots of other fans stocking up on food and beer to bring to the game. Made me wonder how the stadium could any sell food when everyone brings their own. Besides my goodies from 7-11 I bought some fried soba from a street vendor (he had a fancy move to fill the container) and teriyaki chicken from another. I love this idea of bringing food to a game!

The Yokohama Bay Stars were playing the Fukuoka Sky Hawks. Fukuoka happens to be the city where my mother is from. In fact, I've seen their stadium. What I didn't know when I bought the ticket is that the left side of the stadium is for the guest fams. So I'm sitting with Fukuoka fans. Pretty cool! Both teams have a small band consisting of a drum and trumpet players sitting in the outfield seats (left photo is of the Fukuoka outfield section). They pretty much play the entire time their team is batting. The fans in the outfield are also singing with the music, which got a bit annoying because it's the same song repeatedly. I do like the Fukuoka's celebratory song (after a runner scores) which ends with three "banzais!" The fans cheer using plastic bats and noisemakers, a very civilized way to express joy! Because I was in the opponent's section, the souvenir stores in the stadium only sold the opponent's merchandise!

For those of you who care about these things, the pitchers bat in the game, which I think makes for a better game.

The home team lost. It was a bad night for the pitchers of both teams....5 home runs in the first 25 minutes. I think there were 8 or 9 in the entire game (I lost count after awhile). I made it through the top of the 9th, which was 3.5 hours into the game. All in all, a good visit to Yokohama!

More photos can be seen at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26305&id=1134000222&l=59cee78a10