As an introvert, it shocks me to realize that I love all of this.
It ’s 8 a.m. on March 21 , 2023 , and I ’m in aTokyo - areaizakaya along with 30 punctuate outbaseball fan . We wordlessly clutch our breakfast beers and attempt not to hyperventilate as Shohei Ohtani , play for Samurai Japan , steps up the hill . As he collide with out the batter and wins the last game of the World Baseball Classic , the room erupts with a euphory that borders on out - of - physical structure bliss . After a instant of hesitation — after all , I do n’t have it off any of these citizenry — I run across the bar to mellow - five my fellow fans . Overwhelmed by the close impinging with strangers , I pass the rest of the day cooling down at a baseball game - theme Buddist shrine place in nearby Higashimatsuyama .
It was n’t that I was rooting for Japan over America that felt so weird — it was that I was enjoying baseball at all . The fact that I was doing it with strangers added to the shock .
Sometimes it ’s heavy to pinpoint when you definitively settle something is not for you . Other time , less so , like when you ’re 12 and you take a softball to the nous in the middle of a family catch . I react in a totally rational preadolescent mode , by swearing off any and all things sports - tie in well into my maturity . That is , until 2018 , when I take my first stumble to Japan . Judgment cloud by contrivance store carbs and a Sanrio - induced mania , I agree to attend my first - ever game at Koshien Stadium , located about halfway betweenOsakaand Kobe . It only took nine inning and a round of matcha trash cream to undo a life-time of anti - sports rhetoric and to adopt the Hanshin Tigers as my squad of choice .
Photo courtesy of Laura Studarus
After all , Nippon Professional Baseball was oddly cut to my sensitivity . undimmed yellow mouse mascots To - favorable and his girlfriend , Lucky , dance across the bailiwick in regular interval . poster at grant stands featured players endorsing their favorite bento boxes . And Uriko — tiny woman in pink uniforms with oversize Asahi tank strapped to their backbone — roamed the bleachers . And everyone was so favorable . In fact , Japanese baseball seemed like the definition of controlled chaos ; at the ending of the game , after we were all done screaming and high - fiving , we grabbed our trash and filed out in an orderly fashion .
Even though I ’m geographically oblige to rootle for Ohtani at place , I ca n’t be bothered to go across town for a Major League Baseball game . After attending a game in Japan , it ’s gruelling not to rule the MLB a bit too drunk and disorderly . But I always make fourth dimension for a game when I ’m in Japan . And my heat has only grown over the grade of eight subsequent visits .
Simply put : Japan does baseball well than America does . Putting on Tokyo Giants socks , purchase at a nearby FamilyMart and slurp kitsune udon in the bleachers of the open - air Meiji Jingu Stadium brings me more than a jolt of mere bangle . Instead I ’ve learned to sweep up the construct of ikigai . broadly speaking translated , it means dedicating yourself to what give life substance , and it ’s the same school of thought that explains Japan ’s remarkably high issue of unbelievable artisans and chefs . But the Japanese also put on that philosophy toward being a fan , which is exactly what makes it so enjoyable . In Japan , jeering at other team is wait down on — why would anyone want to yuck someone else ’s ikigai ? Effort is put into depict up from your squad , not buck the other squad down , which explain both the impressive number of T - shirts , jerseys , and appurtenance available for leverage at Japanese baseball games , as well as the absolute number of coordinated chants . ( I live from experience how fun these are , thanks to Duolingo example and the fact that the person running the jumbotron at the ZOZO Marine Stadium externalise the Hiragana characters large enough that I could read them phonetically . ) attend a baseball game there is essentially a community - building example — one that cook life worth living , because it involve bear side - by - side with other people who are enjoying the accurate same matter .
Photo courtesy of Laura Studarus
Every spring , when high schools from around the body politic bring a single - elimination tournament , this emotional state of community of interests - edifice is in full force . It ’s the largest amateur sports outcome in the land , and it ’s not unusual for the cheers from Koshien to take a hop throughout the city . When I caught a biz there in 2022 , I cheered my heart out despite not experience a horse cavalry in the race , or rather a child on the field .
In their first season after COVID , the Hiroshima Toyo Carp resumed their 7th - inning stretch tradition of fans holding up cylindric ” rocket ” balloons and then releasing them en masse shot . I was ab initio contented with merely photographing the natural action — that is until I was handed one by a nearby fan who did n’t want me to palpate leave out . I was touched by the invitation , which I made sure to establish through effusive bow and thanks .
I give this sentiment forward when Japan pose Korea in the Asia Professional Baseball Championship in late November 2023 . Thankfully , the Japanese women behind me graciously returned my high - five when I turned around heave with agitation . ( Duolingo lessons forget in my exhilaration , I determine for shrieking , “ Japan is number one ! ” ) I was out of pocket and character — and deeply enjoying it . As it turns out , weird things find when you espouse the excitement of the moment and of ikigai .
Photo courtesy of Laura Studarus
In fact , I ’ll never forget watching the final game of the Japan Series at a British - themed sports bar in Osaka in November of 2023 . Flying solo , I squeezed into a modest mesa with a few strangers . After confirming our team alliances in our modified English and Japanese , I treated them to a round of snack , and they grease one’s palms a round of drinks . When the Hanshin Tigers get ahead 7 - 1 , the total room entirely lose it . When those unknown — now champion — extend to out for a celebratory high - five , I did n’t pause at all .
