COVERING ALL THE BASES

Five things to learn about baseball in Japan

01

IT’S TRADITION

Baseball was introduced to Japan during the Meiji Period around the late 1870s. An American English professor is thought to have been the first on the island nation to import the sport, but baseball really started to gain traction in Japan during the first half of the 20th Century. In the post-World War II period, American GIs who remained overseas continued to promote baseball heavily, and it didn’t take long for Japanese corporations to pick up on the buzz and start sponsoring teams.

02

Pick A Side

Japanese baseball fans are known to devote themselves entirely to their chosen professional, minor, and even high school league teams, with highly detailed celebrations that get specific enough for certain players to have their own personalized cheers that fans memorize. Attending a game in Japan is an astoundingly interactive affair, with colorful rally towels, balloons, and even umbrellas constantly waving in the air.

03

There Are Cheerleaders

With the roots of Japanese baseball tracing back to the U.S., it’s no surprise that the spectacle surrounding games has also developed to feature other aspects of sports like American football. Many of the teams in the Nippon Professional Baseball league – or the NPB, which is considered the highest level of professional baseball in Japan – commonly have cheerleading squads that perform elaborately choreographed dance routines on the field.

04

Enjoy A Drink

Japanese baseball games have also adopted and developed the American tradition of enjoying stadium snacks and drinks during a game. Yet instead of the classic beer man trolling the rows and aisles with his bucket of cans in the likes of Yankee Stadium or Wrigley Field, Japanese spectators are more likely to flag down an “uriko,” or a “beer girl,” as they circulate the stands. Beer girls typically have a keg weighing some 25-35 pounds strapped to their back as they pour individual cups of beer for fans.

05 Have Fun

In Japan, it is not uncommon for fans to remain on their feet cheering for the entire game. Much more than just singing a round of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” Japanese fans often cheer with their whole bodies, dancing, screaming, and singing in unison as though they met to practice before the game – and it’s entirely possible that they did.