SHOWTIME IN JAPAN
A FRED HALL FAN TAKES IN A SPORTSMAN’S EXTRAVAGANZA IN YOKOHAMA
Author Lance Sawa grew up eagerly attending the Fred Hall Shows in Southern California. Now an expat living in Japan, he felt nostalgia when he went to a sports show in Yokohama. (LANCE SAWA)
By Lance Sawa
I
t’s March 1993 and I am waiting in a long line. As a young boy, you would think that I would be bored but that’s hardly the case. I am at the Long Beach Convention Center and waiting to get into the Fred Hall Show and see “Planet Ocean” for the first time.
This truly massive mural – by artist Robert Wyland – features whales as the main characters and they are depicted in their amazingly full size. The kelp looks to be moving, with various fish peeking out here and there. Rocks on the bottom look to be naturally placed, even though each was painted by someone’s hand. Over the years of seeing the mural
my personal favorite creature is a male sheepshead. And I’m taking it all in during this special time of the year: sports show season! My birthday and the Fred Hall Shows fell around the same time. I would spend most of my birthdays walking the aisles of the show. Sometimes it would be just my dad and I; other times it would be the
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