Japanese Yakyu

[Patator]

Japanese pro baseball final is taking place.

Sapporo is leading 2 - 1. I hope Saporro will win as I'm a Shinjo fan !

Else, I support Tojyo Giants but it was not a good season for them this year. And you what's your favorit club ?

[Cue]

Oh, I'm so into JPB, too!
Congrats on Sapporo having made it to Japan's champion team!

I don't have any preference on the Pacific League,
but I LOVE Tigers the best among the Central League.
I'm a crazy, notorious Tigers fan!! xD

There's been some games NPB vs MLB here, but Japan is doing poorly so far. T_T
Hope they win at least one game... *sighs*

[Glenn]

Really? There've been games recently?

[Cue]

Yes... AEON Super All Stars Sries.
http://nichibeiyakyu.com/pc/index.html
http://www.npb.or.jp/japanus/
(Sorry, couldn't find the English site)

There's a game tonight and tomorrow night, too.

Tonight: 18:00~ at Osaka
Tomorrow: 18:00~ at Fukuoka

[Glenn]

Yeah, they really aren't doing too well. They've only managed a tie so far. 日米 is a bit misleading, though. MLB has players from all over the world, mostly notably from the Latin countries in the Carribean. Anyway, thanks for the info, Cue!

[Cue]

日米 is a bit misleading, though. MLB has players from all over the world, mostly notably from the Latin countries in the Carribean.
Oh right! Good point.
Even some Japanese players like Jojima and Iguchi belong to MLB!! LOL

[Glenn]

Yeah, about that: who do they play for in these games? Well, I don't know anything about the selection process at all really. I'm guessing that the MLB goes with the All-stars, or maybe just the starting All-stars from this past season. But do they also take the Japanese players, or are they reserved for the Japanese team?

[Cue]

Erm, I'm sorry but I'm quite following you. T_T
The players who belong to MLB play for MLB regardless of their nationalities...?
And the members for All Japan are selected among players who belong to JPB...by votes by fans and recomments by managers of each team...
So, Jojima and Iguchi are on MLB All Star team...
Am I misunderstood your question? o.o;

[Glenn]

No, you understood perfectly. Thanks for the answer. :-):bow:

[Dutch Baka]

I am going to the Tigers fan day Next week :D :D:D:D in Koshien

[Cue]

WHAT!? :shock:
Oh no!! Really!? That's no fair!!! :(
Gee, you lucky dog... :kanashii:
*stares at Dutch B. with a finger in her mouth*
*snatches Dutch B's tickests, grins, whistles and runs away* :evil:

[nice gaijin]

One thing I don't get about the Japanese teams, is that they seem to have a major sponsor, which they're at least partially named after... it seems that it's less about the area they're from, and more about who signs their paychecks. I guess it's just being more honest than the American teams, but I thought that "日本ハム" was a weird name for a baseball team until someone explained to me how things worked.

[Glenn]

Yeah, in the US it's only the stadiums that are named after businesses. The teams haven't quite gotten there yet.

[nice gaijin]

Can't wait for the 2011 world series between the Budweiser Yankees and the Coca Cola Giants...

[Cue]

Ohh, I never thought about it!
Yeah, come to think about it, MLB teams have "Area + Mascot(sorry, I can't think of a better way to call it)", like Tampa Bay Devil Rays.(Haha, don't ask me why I came up this team name), while most of the JPB teams have "Area +Sponcer(owner company) + Mascot".

the Budweiser Yankees and the Coca Cola Giants...
LMAO!! xD

[miki78]

I watched American baseball once but i couldn't get the game it is very simerler to a game i played at school called rounders

I'v heard the game is exstremly populer in Japan ^^

I'v never seen Japanese baseball is there any diffrence

[Glenn]

The difference between American baseball and Japanese baseball is mostly in the stands. Well, it seems that the Japanese are fond of having dirt infields, whereas in the US they're invariably either grass or artificial turf.

Aside from that, judging from the college game that I went to, the Japanese have bands and cheerleaders at the games, and the cheerleaders are continuously leading cheers throughout the course of the game, almost to the point that you can't keep up with the action. Before the game the cheerleaders also performed, and there was some sort of ceremony where each school played its school song, and some guy wearing traditional Japanese garb yelled some stuff (I really don't know what that was about, and I couldn't make out anything he was saying).

In the US, there are never cheerleaders or bands at games. The only music you'll hear is the national anthem(s), and people are mostly quiet unless something exciting happens.

Again, since I've only been to one college game in Japan, so things may be different in the pro leagues (well, I'm sure they don't have a school song to play beforehand).

[Cue]

Again, since I've only been to one college game in Japan, so things may be different in the pro leagues (well, I'm sure they don't have a school song to play beforehand).
In Japan, it's not just college games that have bands/cheerleaders playing school song, high school games also do. And even Pro, too. (Each team has a team song, like Hanshin Tigers have Rokkou Oroshi, Giants have Moeyo Toukon(or something like that).

Yes, I've been told too that the one of the biggest difference between Japanese baseball and American baseball is how those audience watch the game. It's all crazy...but I like it personally. I like balloons, too. (You can watch many videos on Youtube.)

Miki78, yeah I've heard of the name "rounders" and that it's similar, but never seen one. I believe it's one of the British sports...(but I could be wrong)
Okay, "Let's Google" time~~~! xD

By the way, Japan didn't play good for the MLB vs NPB All Stars games, but Nichi-hamu played pretty good on their Asia Series game against SAMSUNG.
http://asia.npb.or.jp/en/index.html

[Glenn]

I just realized that I was wrong about the only music being the national anthem(s). There's also annoying organ music and pop music played during breaks.

Also, another thing that surprised me: in America the break is between the top and bottom of the seventh inning (the seventh inning stretch), but in Japan it's at the half-way point, between the top and bottom of the fifth (assuming the game doesn't go into extra-innings, like the one I was at. It went 20). And we normally don't blow up balloons and let them fly at any point in the game in the States.

[Cue]

Hmm, about the seventh inning stretch, I believe it's the same in Japan, too. We call it "Lucky Seven".
Oh, but I think Giants (and perhaps some other teams) have it at both 5th and 7th innings.

And balloons, it's only allowed in Koushien, Hiroshima stadium and Jingu stadium(among the Central league's home stadiums).
It's a lot of fun for us fans, but not for stadium staff...picking up those scattered around on the field interupts the game a bit. ^^;

[Glenn]

Yeah, I thought about that when we let them go. But the cheerleaders went around picking up ours. Those cheerleaders probably work harder than the players do!

[Kyoko_desu]

I'm not into yakyuu at all so I hardly know the players' names. Two weeks ago, I went to the ANA hotel in Kanayama, Nagoya with my boyfriend and I happened to be in the same elevator as a Nippon Hamu plalyer. I thought of asking for his autograph but didn't, cus I thought it's rude to, cus I didn't even know who he was. He was wearing the Nichihamu uniform and his uniform number was 27 so now I know who he was. He was Ejiri, a pitcher.
http://www.fighters.co.jp/players/06images/27.jpg

Man! He was tall!

[ricecake]

Nah,I am NOT a sportsfan either.One Japanese name comes to mind,Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle Mariners ( MLB ) has been spotlighted in American sports news for the last few years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichiro_Suzuki


My neighbor's kid has a collection of bobbleheads included Ichiro from breakfast cereal boxes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobblehead_doll

[Cue]

Wow, Kyoko chan, you're so lucky!!
I don't know him either (LOL) but he looks hot! xD
My goodness he's 185cm... Yeah...pretty tall for a Japanese.

@Ricecake
Right, Ichiro must be the most well-known player in MLB... oh and Hideki Matsui, too. I didn't like Ichiro much before but since the WBC, I changed my opinion about him. He's blunt but does love baseball and he sure is talented.

[Glenn]

I think 185 is tall for anybody. That's about 6'.

I just heard from the girlfriend that 松坂大輔 (Daisuke Matsuzaka) has been scouted by some Major League teams, and they're fighting it out for him right now. Looks like there's going to be another big name Japanese player in the US.

[nice gaijin]

I went to the Soukeisen (championship between Waseda and Keio University) a couple weeks ago. Had to be the more enjoyable baseball game I've ever been to, including the ones I participated in. The cheering is extremely well organized and energetic; I spent more time on my feet than on my ass.
Two weeks ago, I went to the ANA hotel in Kanayama, Nagoya with my boyfriend...
I think you just broke some hearts here, Kyoko :eek: :giggle:

[epigene]

I went to the Soukeisen (championship between Waseda and Keio University) a couple weeks ago. Had to be the more enjoyable baseball game I've ever been to, including the ones I participated in. The cheering is extremely well organized and energetic; I spent more time on my feet than on my ass.
Yes, it's one of the major events in Japanese baseball.
My husband used to take our son to those games, hoping that he will want to play baseball and/or want to enter Waseda... He accomplished neither... :giggle:

I think you just broke some hearts here, Kyoko
Yeah, I think so, too! :blush:

[Glenn]

You mean some more? She's already mentioned that she has a boyfriend (although it was in Japanese). :p

I also spent more time on my feet than on my behind, but when the game lasts 20 innings it gets a bit tiresome. The cheerleaders even quit using the mic at one point (around the 16th or 17th, I think it was), but they encouraged us to continue. Of course, they didn't stop cheering, either. I was really impressed with their energy. I wish I had energy like that.

[epigene]

You mean some more? She's already mentioned that she has a boyfriend (although it was in Japanese). :p

I also spent more time on my feet than on my behind, but when the game lasts 20 innings it gets a bit tiresome. The cheerleaders even quit using the mic at one point (around the 16th or 17th, I think it was), but they encouraged us to continue. Of course, they didn't stop cheering, either. I was really impressed with their energy. I wish I had energy like that.
Do you mean you've been to a 早慶戦？

[Glenn]

No, I went to a 同立戦.

By the way, how is it that Waseda and Keio play for the championship every year? No one else ever wins?

[epigene]

No, I went to a 同立戦.
In Japan, the 東京六大学リーグ is the biggest and most popular college baseball league and is broadcast even by NHK. Soukei-sen is the traditional event symbolizing the archrivalry between the two top private universities, regardless of whether they are ranking at the top or bottom of the league during that year or season.

By the way, how is it that Waseda and Keio play for the championship every year? No one else ever wins?
That's incorrect.
東京六大学野球リーグ戦 (http://www.big6.gr.jp/record/record_yearrank.html)

[kirby36]

Two weeks ago,I went to the ANA hotel in Kanayama,Nagoya with my boyfriend




:o .... hot and sweaty sexcape for a high school drop-out,break ojinsans hearts absolutely :giggle: :yeahh:

[twinklestar]

We have Direct satellite service at home,can receive a few hundred foreign TV channels 24/7.Can anyone here tell me which Japanese TV network(s) broadcast local Japanese MLB and college games via satellite,NHK or Fuji or Asahi ?

[nasdaq100]

Right, Ichiro must be the most well-known player in MLB... oh and Hideki Matsui, too.




Hideki Matsui is with New York Yankees,he was reportedly regard as a catch to some sultry Japanese actresses back home.

[Qutiepie]

One Japanese name comes to mind,Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle Mariners ( MLB ) has been spotlighted in American sports news for the last few years.





We were in Seattle ( Washington ) visiting family early this year,went to a local game and saw some fanatic Japanese fans ( flew over from Japan ) cheered Ichiro ... Ichiro ... Ichiro ... quite rowdy I say.

[hayashi]

The Boston Red Sox agreed to pay $42 million just to NEGOITATE with Matsuzaka. If they sign him, it will cost them about $25 million a year (they will have to pay Matsuzaka's salary PLUS the $42 mil signing fee).

There are other Japanese players in America. Ichiro and Hideki Matsui are the most famous, but So Taguchi plays for the Cardinals, Koji Johjima is Ichiro's teammate in Seattle, and Kaz Matsui plays for Colorado. There are a few others too. Not all Japanese players have had success here. Hideki Irabu was the biggest flop and he was routinely jeered by Yankee fans who nicknamed him the "fat toad." Signing Matsuzaka for as much as it will cost the Red Sox is being seen as a huge risk since success in Japan doesn't always translate to success in America.

[pipokun]

It is really huge amount of money, but I am sure that Red Sox will get back their invested money.
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[bezz]

Not all Japanese players have had success here. Hideki Irabu was the biggest flop and he was routinely jeered by Yankee fans who nicknamed him the "fat toad."Irabu retired and now runs an udon restaurant in Los Angeles.


Super Udon (http://www.superudon.com/)