Baseball, BBQ and LM.C

Well, first of all, I should talk about the baseball game I went to on Friday (4/30). This game/experience was quite a bit different than the last, plush game that I went to at the Tokyo Dome. This baseball game was between my host father’s beloved Yakult Swallows (Tokyo) and the Yokohama Bay Stars. The venue was an open air stadium somewhere in Aoyama called Jingu Stadium, and markedly smaller than Tokyo Dome, by comparison. This time, we didn’t sit on the balcony with the box seats (in fact, the stadium was so small, it had no box seats), but rather in the cheapest of cheap, the stands. The stands are mere benches, not even seats with backs or arms, just plastic stool tops lined in a row. The plus to these, however, is that there is no need for assigned seating, so you can pick wherever you like and just sprawl out there. The stands were anything but full, with lots of leg and arm room to spare, despite the fair weather.

We came in during the bottom half of the first inning, toting with us the yakisoba and gyudon we had bought from street vendors on the walk to the stadium (or rather, street-side restaurants who were selling their wares out their front windows while continuing regular business inside. My host mom had brought chips and other snacks, but as is traditional (or so it would seem), my host dad was sent off with some money to go buy a huge tray of sausages smothered with ketchup and mustard (stacked to resemble a burial mound no doubt, large wooden skewers sticking out from the topmost sausages), and a small bucket of French fries. Meanwhile, my host mom flagged down a handsome young boy of seventeen to buy three cups of chuhai (sparkling, flavored sochu/sake) for a reasonable price. As I saw at the previous game, youngsters selling their wares (mostly drinks) out of trays and neon packs on their backs were prowling throughout the stadium in droves, though in contrast to before, there were an equal number of boys and girls working, whereas before it had only been girls.

When my host dad got back with our sausage mountain and fries, we opened up our yakisoba and chips and started feasting. You might ask why the sausages, but you see, in Japan it appears they do not sell hotdogs, and in contrast to our peanuts, they sell edamame beans, a tasty, healthier finger food that I now affectionately call “Japan’s Peanuts.” So we ate and watched the game. It was Lady’s Day at this game too, strangely enough, which really bears no mention only that I found it peculiar. As opposed to before, I hardly watched the game, spending my time equally between watching the crowd and chit-chatting to my host mother about any old thing. This time, my host dad had his clackers and, sitting in the row in front of my host mom and I, he spent his time clacking along with the music of the crowd. She only saw fit to join in when the Swallows won a run, at which point she would get out her mini-umbrella, bearing the team’s logo (like everyone else in the crowd), and start waving it around in formation to a special chant which ended in “Banzai! Banzai!” It was around either the fourth or seventh inning, I’d had a few more Chuhai and wasn’t really watching the game anyway, that it got a little chilly and we left. And that was that.

In other new, my host family had a BBQ yesterday. The day before, my host mom, host dad and I drove out to a huge department store (the kind you read about in your ‘Let’s Learn Japanese!’ books) that was towering and massive and thoroughly enthralling, though I hardly got a chance to look around. On the top floor, from what I could tell (we didn’t stay there long), was the food court, the kids section, some electronics and a few other knicknacks. Then there was a floor with a bookstore (sigh), and men’s and children’s clothing; we only took the escalator through this floor. Then there was a women’s clothing store, then a bathroom/outdoor/cooking needs floor, which we stopped on in search of the little tool you use to grease a takoyaki pan. Next I was whisked off, past the cosmetics floor, past the 2nd food floor, and onto the first floor where the deli/meat counter, the frozen foods and the fresh foods were kept. I instructed my host mother, to the best of my ability, what vegetables were fit to grill (agreeing to celery, though I’d never known it to be grilled), and assuring her, despite suspicious looks, that pineapple was very good on the grill. We bought American beef, chicken, shrimp and octopus (for the takoyaki), celery, green bell peppers, pineapple, onions, asparagus, cucumber and I’m sure something else I’ve forgotten. Lastly we went in search of beer, which happened to be on the 2nd floor we’d passed, so we went up again to the boxed foods/kept foods/sauces and alcohol floor where she loaded in the 12 packs and where I convinced her to buy some Worchestershire sauce which I was astonished to find. After that, we packed it all in the car and zipped home to start chopping and marinading.

Come the next day, I was put to work assembling the shish-kabobs and my youngest host brother begrudgingly took up the grill. Finally, after about an hour of cooking, things were done and my host dad came up from the shrine’s office to eat. In addition to our BBQ, there was potato salad, two bamboo baskets of rice (one with carrots and lotus, another with red beans and chestnuts), and foi gras from Europe. We all tucked in royally. The cooking, of course, was far from done as we had four plates of shish-kabobs, and when my host dad went back to work, so did we. When everything was finally cooked and eaten, we all sat back to watch a baseball game, or rather, I was taken off to play with the kids before their bath, until finally they went off and I was left to help with the last of the takoyaki and the baseball game progressed. We had tea and dessert and when the party started to wind down, I excused myself to my room where I made an effort to busy myself with nothing in particular until my concert.
The doors to the C.C. Lemon opened at 4:30, and though I was a little late, it didn’t seem that they were letting anyone in just yet. I made my way for the merchandise table and spent too much money on stuff I probably (or certainly) didn’t need. Usually, concerts open an hour before they actually start, so after I got my goods, I found a spot to sit down, watching as hordes of people filtered through the front doors, herded by a man with a megaphone, the likes of whom I couldn’t understand in the least. It was after I was done fooling idly with my cell phone, that I noticed a poster saying the concert started at 5, not 5:30, so I beat my way to the back of the line with 7 minutes until the concert ‘started.’ Unfortunately, the seats were far from perfect. They were, naturally, on the second floor, and sort of up toward the top, but as the C.C. Lemon isn’t all that massive, I could see the stage well and could see LM.C’s faces too (if not the sweat beading on their foreheads). Despite being scheduled to start at 5, per the usual, the concert started late, about 20 minutes late, in fact. One quick note was that this concert, in contrast to others I’ve gone to, had a large number of male attendants. In fact, I’d say about a third of the audience was guys, which shocked me. Especially for it being LM.C. And another thing, the concert experience itself (that is, the overall feeling and the hand motions, etc.) were completely and utterly different. It was slightly unsettling at first, and certainly a learning experience for a girl who thought to call herself a seasoned expert at these sorts of things by now. But, on to the concert…

When you go to an Alice Nine concert, you’re there to hear the music, to move along with it, and to ultimately watch. And the things you watch are five guys, dressed up nice, playing instruments. While somewhat different than an American concert, it’s not too far off as to seem entirely different. LM.C is entirely different. You go to an LM.C concert, and it’s like stepping into an alternate world, a fantastical realm you’ve never seen the likes of before. The best way I can think to liken it, is to say it’s a mixture of a cartoony Alice in Wonderland meets the circus. I mean really, all they’re lacking is an elephant and a trapeze artist, and only that because the stage couldn’t support such hijinks, no doubt.

Rather than the lights quickly dimming, all of a sudden someone throws the switch and you’re plunged into darkness. Then red light is thrown up from behind the red curtain shrouding the stage to illuminate shapes from within of curving, winding, impossible staircases. The lights swirl and twirl and then the curtain is pulled back to reveal the stage. The winding staircase shapes remain, flanked by large curves with comically large spikes on them which rise out of the floor on either side, and behind, at different levels, are metal and glass shelves, five in number. Upon the left one is LM.C’s signature silver skull/Mohawk figure which I can’t describe any better than that. To the right is the keyboardist, and on the middle, highest platform is the drummer. Off somewhere to the left on the stage, dressed in an unassuming black shirt, is the bassist, to the right, under a yellow light stands Aiji, the guitarist, in his LM.C jumpsuit, his hair a mix of bleach blond and black, holding his sleek guitar, decaled by flames. And in the middle, under the brightest spotlight, looking down to throw his tall figure and blond hair in relief, is Maya, the singer. Wasting no time, Aiji starts on the guitar, Maya looks up, lifting the microphone, and the concert stars with a bang.

They played a long first set, several of their best songs, including ‘Oh My Juliet,’ which has an amazing guitar part that I love to watch. Maya, as befits his youthful image, was a ball of energy, jumping around the stage, waving his arms, and pouring his heart into his singing. Aiji, quite the opposite, spent almost all of his time, throughout the entire concert, planted in the same spot, feet slightly apart, bobbing his head to the beat and playing expertly on his guitar. Because LM.C has only one guitarist, he has to provide all the sound himself, and oh how he does. This was certainly the loudest concert I’v ever been do (30 square speakers and 4 standing speakers). I was leaning up against a wall, and it was shaking the whole time; twice, when the drum beat and Aiji’s loudest chords fell in time with each other, it shook such that you might have mistaken it for an earthquake.

So they played for a while, adding the effects of dancing polka dot lights that twirl on the ceiling, a huge globe of a mirror ball, and two VERY large illuminated bunny ears (as see on their logo) which hang over the front center of the stage. During ‘Ghost Heart,’ the bunny logo was lifted by phantom strings up to over at the back of the stage, covering over a backdrop of black and white polka dots; this, no doubt, achieved at 3D effect for people in the audience sitting dead center, what with the bunny logo at the back falling in line with the massive rabbit ears hovering over the stage. It was somewhere around here that they took time out to MC. They seemed to do a lot of talking over the concert, stopping probably 4 times to do so, so that a good ¼ of the concert was talking (which you might like or not).

When the talking was done, they started again, playing '88' my very favorite, then another I don't know so well. You should know that yesterday was Kodomo no Hi, aka, Children’s Day which is ironic and a perfect day for LM.C, in accordance with their image, so, during one of the songs, one I'm not too familiar with, a carnival tent wall and a line streaming with traditional red and white hanging lanterns was lifted at the back of the stage as yet another platform was raised and people dressed as LM.C’s skull/Mohawk figure poured out, crossing the stage and waving flags with the bands logo, whilst still more took up a V formation behind Maya and started doing an intricate, synchronized group dance that lasted the entirety of the song, and which the entire audience (excepting myself), seemed to know (even the keyboardist was doing it in between notes). After that funfest, the lanterns were lowered and most of the skull people when off, the resident one taking up his proper place again. There was more MCing, during which the skull guy actually spoke (quite possibly for the first time), but he spoke through a voice distorter in his mask and did it to comic effect. Then there were a few more songs. Much to my surprise, they didn’t end with ‘Rock the LM.C’ but with some other song I can’t remember, after which, the house lights went up, Aiji threw his picks into the audience and Maya threw the lollipops off his Chupa-Chups tree into the audience and they finally departed the stage. Strangely enough, there was no call for an encore. Perhaps typical of their concerts?

So, that's what I've done so far. I have another concert tomorrow, and then Mother's Day is on Sunday and I'm taking my host mom out to eat, then cooking dinner. We'll see how that goes. Here in Japan, it is customary to give a red carnation to mothers on Mother's Day. Interesting, huh?

The Tokyo Giants

Hey there everyone! Yes, I'm back and late again, as usual. So, this happened last Friday, but I'm gonna go ahead and talk about it now. Hope you don't mind. Well, on Friday, my host father got him and myself some special tickets to a Tokyo Giants baseball game, complete with Lounge seats, all you can eat buffet and even a chance to see the teams practice before the game. Before I start detailing the entirety of the day, let me give you a little background on the team. Tokyo, much like New York, has not one baseball team, but two (perhaps because of the city's sheer size and population, I really don't know). The teams are: The Tokyo/Yomiuri Giants, and the Yakult Swallows. Yomiuri (the famous newspaper company, and Yakult are simply the names of the corporations that sponsor the teams. So, the home stadium of the Yakult Sparrows (who happen to be my host father's favorite team) is in an (evidentally) small outdoor stadium called Jingu stadium, whereas the beloved Giants are housed in the massive, towering Tokyo Dome complex. A word about Tokyo Dome itself. Tokyo Dome is more a sprawling complex (in the same way that Disneyland is a complex), containing several buildings, amusement parks, roller coasters that come out of buildings to loop over highways, multiple stadiums/concert halls, malls, arcades, restaurants, etc. It's sort of like a gargantuan amusement park, as it were. Whereas most teams in Japan (there are only a few) have real animals for mascots (Osaka Tigers, Hiroshima Carp [who we were playing on said day], etc), the Giants have an almost, sorta real animal for a mascot. The Giant's colors are black and orange, and their logo is a Y (for Yomiuri) interlaced with a G (for Giants), and thus, taking this logo, the team made their mascot a rabbit sort of creature whos face resembles the logo. They affectionately call this creature the Jabbit (Giants+Rabbit).

Despite it being a rather crappy, rainy, soggy sort of chilled day, the Tokyo Dome complex was filled with people, most of whom were either there for the game, or there to try to get tickets for the game. At around 3 o'clock, my host father and I took our special (and I'm sure, quite expensive, tickets) down to a garage-like area, illuminated by yellowed, flourescent lights, the sort of place you expect bit 18-wheelers to back into to deposit cases of softdrinks for vending machines, and boxes of junk food for vendors. We were given a laminated badge that read 'Guest' and told to wait in line, which in fact lasted a good 30 min. or so, before being led through another line where haphazard cops looked through your bags to assure you had nothing suspicious. In groups of 20, we were let into a small, windowed room, and shut in. It was the sort of eerie 1984 thing that was reminiscent of a scene that might be from Battle Royale, caged into a glass space with cops on either sides holding the doors shut, and holding you in. I have yet to figure out the necessity for this. We waited a minute or two, then the doors swung open and a preppy 20 year old girl, decked out in orange legwarmers, a short orange skirt and an orange and black visor, held aloft a flag that read 'Giants,' and proceeded in front of us, leading the way past stands getting ready to sell team goods, bento boxes, cones of popcorn, etc.

We were led into the stadium, into Tokyo Dome itself and one couldn't help but peer up at the lofty ceiling, who knows how high, and marvel at the sheer size of the place. I suppose it's about the size of any of our American baseball stadiums, but having now lived in Japan for 8 months, I can't remember ever having been in a place so large and open. We proceeded down to a space literally ON the astroturf, where about 40 special seats sat waiting behind tall nets. On the seats were towels sporting the McDonald's logo, a baseball glove, and a baseball helmet. I later learned that these are the McDonalds' priority seat, and because of their location (and because the nets protecting them are taken down for the game), it is mandatory for all spectators there to wear the helmets so as not to have their head bashed in by a stray ball. Anywho, we were led into the space and allowed to watch the Giants team in practice. As one might expect, there were people doing stretches, some batting, some catching, etc. Around the stadium, up in the stands, police officers, like packs of keen bloodhounds, meandered their way through the seats, checking, I would assume, for suspicious packages. Much later, when ticket-holders were let in, before the game, the cops remained, but instead of watching for suspicious activity, their jobs changed to that of whistle-blower. That is, whenever a ball was hit and wasn't going to land in the field, but rather in the stands, that section's policeman would blow his whistle, and everyone would move out of the way.

While watching the practice, the Jabbit mascot came out to take pictures with our group (there were only about 50 of us in all), and then we all got together and posed for a free picture (free only if you overlook the high price of the ticket). After that, we were shown back out, given a gift (a fold-out box sort of thing), and proceeded up to look at the various gift shops around the place until 4, when they started letting people in before the game. Our special tickets were on the same balcony as the box seats, and in contrast to the uncomfortable, cramped plastic benches en masse below, our seats were comfortable, cushioned, only 5 to a row, and had a fold out table. As time for the game to start loomed nearer, the girls hawking various goods, began to meander through the rows below. While the 'lobby' areas certainly sell food, most spectators never get out of their seats to purchase their food/beverages. Instead, girls in various neon colored skirts and caps walk to the very front of the row, bow to no one in particular and raise their hand, proceeding slowly up the steps and stopping if anyone in the crowd mirrors their raised hand. Of course the girls sell soda and tea, and bento boxes and popcorn, but there were also girls walking around with huge carafes of coffee, and those selling beer, were the most interesting of all. They had on huge, covered backpacks which were, in fact, kegs of beer, and from their belts dangled a thing holding tankards. Whenever someone flagged them down for a tank of beer, they would pull out a spicket/tube and fill a tankard full, just like beer on tap. These girls, however, were not prowling through our section. Instead, we had a catered buffet with corndogs, salad of all sorts, fried shrimp, pasta and flan and green tea cake for dessert.

As for the game itself... The experience was a little different from an American baseball game (at least I think). You see, I was still knee-high to a grasshopper when I last went to an American baseball game, so I can't very truthfully boast full knowledge of the US experience, but I'll tell you what I can of baseball games here. First of all, the fans are amazing. Of all things interesting in Japan, by far, fandom is the most unique and interesting, whether it be for singers, actors or sports. The opposing team was the Hiroshima Carp, and they had there own section of the stadium, a distinguishable red and white from the almost entirely orange and black sea of people. Now, I must mention that each player on a team has a song, or rather, a specific chant. My host father went on to tell me that in fact the songs are put on a CD (whether fan made/distributed or actually buyable in stores, I don't know), and all fans get the CD and memorize the words and music. Thus, whenever a player comes up to bat, everyone in the stands for that team beats their clackers (large inflatable sticks) to the tune and sings/chants that player's particular song. And, in fact, students (high school or otherwise) bring in their band instruments: trumpets, saxaphones, etc., and play the melodies. There was a fan-made band there for each team. Also, there were massive flgs, large enough to cover 3 or 4 rows of seats, which one man was self-appointed to wave all throughout the team's inning. For the Giants, naturally their flag said, "Giants," but for Hiroshima, there were two. One was "Hiroshima Carp," but the other was in red and white and said "Tokyo." When I asked about this peculiarity, my host father said that it was meant to represent the native Hiroshima people who now lived and worked in Tokyo, and thus were indebted to Tokyo, but still wanted to show homeland pride. So, a man would come up to bat and, strangely enough, almost always, the pitcher of the opposing team would wait for the player's song to finish in the stands before actually pitching the ball. If, by stroke of luck, a player hit a home run (which caused us to get a free Big Mac), or if he scored a point, everyone in the stadium would lift their orange towels and wave them around, singing yet another victory song. In contrast to American sportsmanship, even the supporters of the opposing team would give applause with gusto.

So, that's the basics of what I've learned about Japanese baseball games. And they go by faster, though I think that makes them more interesting, because they cut out all the boring waiting/faking out that runs rampant in some baseball games. We left in a downpour after the 7th inning, as Tokyo Dome is none too close to our apartment, my host dad didn't really care who won (the Giants did), and we didn't want to have to squeeze into a packed train (though it was still packed, regardless). On a side note, the Giants had a very famous, beloved player who, ironically shared the same name as the famous actor, Kimura Takuya. About two or three weeks ago, during practice, he collapsed with what I gather was a brain anurism (dunno how to spell it), and was rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately, a few days later, he died. He was, to all Japanese sports fan a legend and much loved, and so everyone was very sad at his premature passing (he was in his 50s I think). The day after the game we went to, there was another game and a fan memorial service, where thousands upon thousands of people poured into Tokyo Dome, coming to burn incense and pray, or bringing flowers and paying condolences. His son threw out the first pitch.

So that's all for now folks. Sorry it's taken so long. In other news, I made Takoyaki (octopus balls) or, in my case Ebi Ebi Yaki (shrimp balls) with my host brother and his girlfriend the other night and while, difficult, it was a blast and I think I'll have to buy a takoyaki pan before I come home. Well, now that my host dad sees he's found a baseball buddy, he's planning on taking me to see the Yakult Swallows at Jingu stadium... maybe Friday. Not really sure. I'll post again whenever I can. Now that school's started back up, I'm a bit busy, and true to form, almost every frickin day the monkeys that run the place come up with new problems for me to have to figure out myself (currently telling me to pay them $500 by tomorrow when I've only got $300 on me). Sigh. Oh, and I've added a tracker at the bottom here. I got a few comments from people who aren't my friends/family and realized maybe other people actually read this stuff, so, out of curiosity, I put that at the bottom of the page. Btw, if anyone has any questions for me or wants me to write about something in particular, comment and I'll see what I can do. Well, til next time!