Baseball at the Tokyo Dome
I was lucky enough to have some free time and catch a baseball game at Tokyo Dome last week. The Nippon Ham Fighters were playing the Softbank Hawks. A few years ago when the Red Sox came to Tokyo to play a few exhibition games and a few opening games against the Oakland A's my previous company sponsored them so I was able to catch a bunch of games. Baseball in Tokyo is loved and the fans are fanatic about the teams they support. Today's configuration: Leica M9-P with a Summilux 21mm f/1.4, 28mm Summicron f/2.0, Summilux 35mm 1.4, Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 and Summicron 75mm f/1.4.
Tokyo Dome is a massive complex that hosts the Tokyo Giants and many concerts that come through Tokyo. Unfortunately the Giants were out of town last week. For the game we saw there were 20,000 or so people in attendance. When the Giants play they sell out all 50,000 seats and Tokyo Dome is electric with fans. I may try to catch a Giants game soon...
I was surprised they didn't take credit cards. I went hunting for a ATM and bumped into this guy... Honestly it was a little creepy to head down the stairs and see him standing there.
There is always such an interesting mix of people watching the games.
Dancers with flags to introduce the players...
I went with this group from work to the game...
This guys shirt made me laugh. 'Oyaji' is slag for older or middle aged man usually used by younger people to refer to older people.
They have bento boxes at baseball games in Tokyo. They also have beer and hot dogs!
Meet Suzuki-san...
BAM!
More dancers...
There were a couple of player's wives sitting in front of us. This little kid kept asking for our noise makers. He was cute...
I love all of the cheering when someone hits a ball and the Ham Fighters crushed Softbank...
The fan section is hysterical. I wish I had a longer lens. There are trumpet players, people waving flags, signs and songs for every player.
Thanks for stopping by today...