Western League - Chunichi Dragons vs Orix Buffaloes at Toyohashi Municipal Stadium

It's my first post in almost six years. The last six years have been busy for me with family and career, and over that time the Dragons for the most part have been floundering and frustrating to watch.

My family and I are now in Japan so I wanted share about a recent game experience and may continue to post about random Dragons-related things over the course of our time here.

One item that's been on my baseball bucket list for a long time has been to see a Dragons game in Toyohashi, Aichi. It's my wife's hometown and I've always thought that it's really cool that the NPB plays games at various local stadiums, though it seems that it now occurs less frequently than it used to. It's a great way to showcase for a different audience and in a more intimate setting. Even though the NPB has been doing this less frequently Chunichi has continued to play one ichi-gun game a year in Toyohashi. I've never had an opportunity to go to one of the games and wasn't around for the game that was played here in July. Soon after we arrived in Japan though I was surprised and thrilled to see a poster at city hall advertising an upcoming ni-gun game in Toyohashi. Obviously I had to go and though I still want to see an ichi-gun game here, I would consider this bucket list item officially checked off.

On the night of the game the weather was almost perfect and not nearly as hot as the previous days had been. There was a good-sized and excited crowd, listed as 3,856, significantly more than what Chunichi usually draws of 500-900 for their typical ni-gun games in Nagoya. 

Two Toyohashi natives played in the game and each was honored prior to the start of the game. Chunichi's Mao Hoshino who had two hits that night and played second base and Orix's catcher Takuma Nakagawa.

Most of the offense occured early in the game and Chunichi had numerous opportunities to score but in the end tallied only one run on a Naomichi Donoue solo home run. Chunichi fell 4-1 to Orix that night with all of the runs being scored in the first three innings. Still it was a fun atmosphere and fun, memorable night.

Walking to the stadium from the street car

Nice seats!! (first come, first served)

Starting lineups on the scoreboard

Magic hour

Donoue Solo HR

Happy New Year!

I attended a gokitou ceremony for the first time today at the Tsubaki Grand Shrine in Granite Falls, WA. We have visited the shrine on New Year's Day several times before, but this is the first time I've attended a ceremony here in Washington or in Japan. I enjoyed it, the setting and tone of the ceremony was very relaxing and a great opportunity to reflect on the past year and focus on goals for the new year.

I would recommend visiting the shrine to anyone from Japan or in the U.S. and interested in Japan. It's about as close as you can come to experiencing Japan while still being in the U.S. I believe it is one of only two Shinto shrines currently operating in the lower 48 States and it's located in a very scenic wooded area near the Pilchuck River. If you are going on New Year's Day I would suggest going early because parking is limited. Also dress warm because when its a cold day it's even colder in the shade down by the water.

Happy New Year everyone, have a great 2015!

PSSBL Game at Safeco Field

I was very fortunate to be able to participate in a charity baseball game put on by the league I play in for the benefit of the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Alaska and Washington.  It was a great experience in one of my favorite places in the world and I'm glad I was able to share it with my family and some great guys and benefiting a great cause.

Please visit the Make-a-Wish website to see some of the stories of children who have benefited from the organization and the effect it's had on these children and their families.

Also a very, very cool story here about 18-year old Xander Bailey's wish to become a pro soccer player and his day as a Seattle Sounder, put together by Make-a-Wish and Sounders FC.

Takeshi Yamasaki Hangs Up His Spikes

Takeshi Yamasaki, at 44 years old, has now officially retired after 25 years of professional baseball.  He played his final game for the Dragons last Saturday in Chunichi's final game of the season.  The team did several ceremonial things for his last game, as can be seen in these photos.  Yakyubaka has the details of the event including an English translation of his retirement speech.  Japanese Baseball Cards also has a nice write-up about Yamasaki's career.

Though he had already moved on from the Dragons when I began following Japanese baseball, I've been a fan of his.  There's a lot to like, at least for me, he's from Aichi and went to Aikodai Meiden, he's got the big slowpitch softball swing and even drives a lamborghini.  He also authored one of my father-in-laws favorite Dragons' moments:

A walkoff home run from 1999 bringing Chunichi's magic number to five.  They eventually held off the Giants and went to the Japan Series that year for the first time since 1988.

He wasn't the most consistent player, but his at-bats were always must-see, he wasn't going to be cheated and a prolific home run could be on the way.  I'm glad he could go out as a Dragon.

Daisuke Yamai and Hidenori Kuramoto at the Toyohashi Zoo

Yamai and Hidenori were at the zoo last Wednesday for a "talk show."  We took our daughter and nieces and got there early to get raffle tickets for a chance to win photos with the players or autographs.  They also said that there would be training sessions for three lucky people.  Before the show we checked out the animals, the current headliner is a baby Asian elephant that is less than a month old. 
There were a couple hundred people at the show, many in Dragons gear or Little League uniforms.  They did the raffle first and we didn't win any of the memorabilia.  Then the show began; the guys came out and introduced themselves and Hidenori presented the zoo with a painting he had done of a rhino (he may be a better artist than a baseball player).  My speaking and comprehension of Japanese is at about a two-year old's level so I didn't understand much of what they were saying.  From what my wife translated to me they talked about the power of Yamai's glasses and how it transforms him, kind of like the opposite of Superman.  When asked what pitcher Yamai admired, he answered with Kazuki Yoshimi because of his control.  He also said that his goal for the season was to stay at ichi-gun all year because he has never been able to do that before. 
Near the end of the show they gave three little leaguers some tips, Yamai gave a boy some advice on throwing and Hidenori demonstrated how to play a groundball and how to swing the bat.  He included a funny imitation of Kazuyoshi Tatsunami in his batting lesson.  I may add some links to video we have of their demonstrations later on.