11 May 2007- 6:46pm: le hostel

Oh WOW. The last 24+ hours have been wonderful.

I got to Sapporo Station at 3:30, and immediately shoved my two bigger bags into a coin locker before running off to the Toho line and Fukumazi Station. It was about 4:15-4:30 (I think) when I got to the Dome. Unreal. You're walking along through Sapporo, which is not by any means supermodern, and then BOOM out of nowhere there's this huge shiny silver Thing up on a hill. It's very futuristic. There were already fans going into the stadium, and I was religiously following Ken Iwamoto's directions, so I did NOT follow them, and instead went around the back way to the press entrance (so cool! The funny thing is I had to show the College AP pass (from the Thresher) to get back there in the first place, even though I would get my Fighters pass later).

Then I didn't speak Japanese (shocker), and basically managed to get across to the press people what I was doing by hopefully pointing at Mr. Iwamoto's name and number at the bottom of my printed-out e-mail. And some guy took me to him, and then we went to the manager's office. It was all so surreal; I still can't believe how helpful and friendly everyone was. So. Then I met Trey Hillman, who's from Texas. Texas! And he manages a Japanese baseball team. His family lives with him in Japan. God. I would marry a baseball manager if I could. He was so laidback, and really just superfriendly. I guess not a lot of Americans come to Japan doing what I'm doing. I got a few quick interview questions (hardhitting? Nooooo not so much. Ah well)- which was sweet for more than one reason. First, I had JUST bought the batteries for the recorder at Fukuzumi Station, as I was running around, and second, because I figured out how to work the thing without problemas. Clearly the interview thing was meant to be.

I didn't get his autograph, which was silly of me, but I do have a picture of me with Messrs. Hillman and Iwamoto. AMAZING. So then I whipped out the granddaddy telephoto lens (which might be the single greatest purchase I've made in my life), and Ken Iwamoto then took me around to all these crazy places- first, the field. I have never seen a stadium with turf, let alone a dome. That by itself was nuts. The dugouts aren't dugouts; they don't even have benches! (chairs, instead). Advertising's much more subtle out there (this might be because characters still look to me like pretty sketchings, and not words). Anyway, I also saw the indoor (!) bullpens (and the video in the dugout so you can see what the pitchers are up to), the swing room (exactly what it sounds like), and the 'hero board.' Then Ken I. gave me a bag of free Fighters stuff (still floored), and sent me off with one of the events people for a complete tour. And that was incredible.

I would never have had any clue about the observatory, or the fact that the Sapporo Dome converts to a soccer stadium (with a pitch of real grass, no lesss, or who knows what else. The best part is I can now SHOW other people this, because I have a promo video of my very own.

It's a shame that Lonely Planet doesn't mention the Dome at all- I checked the Let's Go they have at the hostel, and it definitely gets its little blurb. I personally think baseball needs more attention in the guidebooks, because games are different-yet-same enough to really be interesting to the casual fan.

Okay, so I got the tour of awesomeness. Then the game started! Nippon-Ham Fighters vs. Fukuoka Hawks. After all that craziness and excitement and just being wowed by it all, I was so antsy through the first inning that I had get up (from my seat that I didn't have to pay for, btw) and roam around some more. I got this noodley seafood thing for dinner, was impressed that the bathroom had Western AND Japanese style toilets, and then tried to go sit still again. I also had to call my hostel, who'd been expecting me about-oh-four hours before.

All the Thresher baseball photography this past semester has made me see all games pretty much through a lens. Not that this is a bad thing, and I think it also has a lot to do with me being alone at these games- if someone were here with me, I'd be much more inclined to pay attention to the game without looking for photo ops. At any rate, I loved the whole thing. I made little notes about all the nifty things going on, so I'm not going to rewrite them here. Around the 6th (?) inning, I met Trey Hillman's wife (because I stand out like whoa as an American/English/decidedly NOT Japanese...so she just walked up to me and struck up a conversation), and that was pretty nice. The Fighters were down 8-2 in the top of the 9th, so I left (feeling very lame for doing so, but I had told the hostel people I'd be there at 10:30, and as it was I got there at 11), checked out the gift shop (where they were having a love affair with the Mariners), and got in the crowd o' people going to the subway. Just like at Fenway.

I had to go out of my way BACK to Sapporo Station, to pick up my luggage- and I found my lockers, which I thought very impressive. And I stumbled down from Shiroishi Station the 5 blocks to Ino's Place. I like it here very much. It reminds me of a camping lodge. The owners speak English, which is helpful, and there's Internet (yay!).