Yazu-Ko FIGHTO!!!

Background: Before I even get into this one, I must explain both baseball in Japan, and Koshien. First off, to say that baseball in Japan is big would be one the grossest understatements of all time. So much that it makes me laugh. So much that reading the sentence I just wrote caused a giggle. Baseball is to Japan as hockey is to Canada as football is to America as football (the original; get it right) is to Europe as... Well, you get the idea. Games sell out days and weeks in advance, and TVs across the country light up when a match is played.

Now, you might think that since high school teams are naturally of a lower plateau than professional ball that they wouldn't be as popular. Wrong. If anything, they're even more so. It continues the prevalent theme here of being cool by association. Just as the high school/university you go to, city that you live in, and job that you hold have important ramifications for self both externally and internally, the high school baseball team is just one more extension. It's a way to rally the community together as well as provide for identity for the person: "MY school is the best in the prefecture. Nwah!"

Second part of the prelude is Koshien. Hanshin Koshien Stadium is the 73 year-old badboy that's holds the annual high school baseball tournament. It is also home to the Hanshin Tigers professional baseball club, but the high school tournaments carry such weight that the Tigers' schedule will be rearranged to have away games during said times to make room. That should give you some indication as to how insane these tournaments are. A tournament is held in spring and summer, with the spring one being invitational (Usually one team from each prefecture or region; about 36 teams) and the summer one involving a team from each prefecture (two from Tokyo and Hokkaido each; 49 teams). Conquering your inner demons, slaying the Emperor and bringing balance to The Force... I mean, beating the other teams in your prefecture is enough to get you a trip to Koshien. Just being able to go is an honor in itself. Even if you're out the first round, when you get home, you can still rub your nose in anyone within about 50 km's face that you're better than all of them. And if you win... Well, you're basically God for the rest of your life. You can tell everyone, "Yeah, me and my team won @ Koshien in xxxx," and olive branches will drop to your feet.

Wouldn't you know it. The year I start in Japan is the year we make it to Koshien. Huzzah! Now, @ the first, I was just kinda "meh" about the whole thing since I'm not a huge baseball fan to begin with, however enough hoopla around here about just what it means to everyone @ school and the community gave me a bit of genki-ness on the matter. Not to mention that I've watched the baseball team train every day (even weekends) really hard for each and every game, so I thought it a great chance to see them in action. Finally, my desire to see a Japanese baseball game in action and all the associated insanity would be satiated by this chance, so that sealed it.

A Tuesday ungodly wakeup of 4 AM and being @ school for 5:15 AM and on a bus by 5:45 AM later, we found ourselves arriving just outside of Koge around 10:30 or so. You know that this was the place as there were high school kids aplenty about. And what rocked was the number of local residents of our town that made the 3 hour mission to come and cheer the team on (See above - RE: Community Rally). We all 500 or so of us swarm the stadium to find it relatively full of people, something I was a little surprised by considering it was the middle of a Tuesday morning.

Both teams have their schools come out to egg them on, but don't think that it's just sitting in the stands and cheering. Oh, little Japan, just have to one-up us in any and everything. We bring with us Oendan. Oendan is like a cheerleading section, except that everyone is a cheerleader. Like, y'know? There are several people @ the front who lead all of us in a cheer, and the crowd responds and yells and makes noise and whatever. There are actual cheerleaders all up and down the aisle to complement us, and the school band provides the music. And we do nothing but cheer. When our team is up to bat, we include the name of the batter in the cheer, and cheer until our side is retired, then we can chill, but when we make an out while playing the field, we do a special out cheer that includes the name of whoever made the out. All and all, you're actually exhausted by the end of watching a baseball game here.
After the warm up, the game starts with little fanfare - no anthems, no first pitch, just a bow and go time. Cheers erupts, outs are made, bats crack. Actually, our defense was awesome. A foul caught going into a dugout, a diving catch from behind the back, double play... (I'm not making these up; they actually happened). When all was said and done, we walked out of there with a 1-0 victory. The crowd goes wild as the home team runs over for a bow. So much more madly exciting than Canada. And let me tell you how when we went back onto that bus to go home, all 40 of us dropped out faster than post-Thanksgiving dinner.
This is how work days should always be spent.