Fuk 8/07 - pt 3: Hawks vs Marines

I'm back in HK now,  I flew back Monday, but like i said, i'm way behind,  it took me a few days to find the time to finish my baseball video!  Here it is along with some photos...

日本野球ゲームへ友達と行った！先ビデオをした！見て：

Watch the video first:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-hyUDDGegE

Since the quality of youtube leaves a lot to be desired, here are some photos:

写真もある：

The Fukuoka 'Yahoo Dome', where the pro baseball team plays and the bigger concerts are held in town.  Note: Since Japanese pronounces 'Hu' and 'Fu' the same, some Japanese people pronounce the name of this place the 'Yafoo Dome'  which for some reason is very humorous to me. :-P

ヤーフードームです。

Seats were pretty full, so we were only able to get a view like this.  I would have preferred the outfield bleachers...

人一杯！

But thanks to my 7x zoom camera,  I could still get some decent shots of the hitters.

I took this to just show you guys what kind of food they serve at a Japanese sporting event...

アメリカ人の友達為はこの日本の野球食べもの屋台の写真を撮った：

From left to right:

Ramen

Meats-on-a-stick (your choice of Steak, 'American Dog', Fried squid, Frankfurter)

Softserve Ice Cream / Cream Soda Float

Takoyaki Set (thats fried octopus balls)

Yakisoba Set ( fried noodles)

Sando Set (some kind of club sandwich, with lots of mayonnaise, I'm sure)

Drinks

Fries

Ramen

Udon I decided to walk further down to the Wendy's counter and got myself a Teriyaki Egg burger instead. ;-)

Here's some pics of fans, etc towards the end of the game:　ファンスとか。。。

Preparing the post-game victory balloons....

In Japan they do an extensive post-game interview with the MVPs... 

アメリカで普通ゲーム後そのインターブーあまりしません。。。

Meanwhile the cheerleaders and mascot people have to mill around without looking too bored:

The team is called the 'The Hawks', so their main mascot is a hawk, but they've also made a whole 'hawk family' of other mascots (i think there's like 6 or 7 total).  This is Grandpa Hawk and Younger Sister Hawk I think...　ハークスの全家族がある。。。

For those of you who watched the video, here's the higher res versions of the 'Super Fan Lady' pictures in the video:

As you can see, she has made her own costume and added a lot of sequins, etc... and then sewn in an actual Hawks mascot stuffed animal onto back (like some sort of crucifixion scene), and the heads of several hawks sewn onto the front (?!?)

ビデオのスーパーファン女を見た？とても面白いよ！服なんですか？

She also had her two stuffed monkeys... dressed in Hawk's jerseys...   I didn't get it in the picture, but she also had a small high chair for the monkeys to sit in along side her (cause you wouldn't want them to miss the game).　猿の子供ですか？　

All of her clothes (and the monkey's clothes) were autographed by players, so I'm guessing after every game she's outside the stadium exit waiting with her magic marker! ;-)

When she wasn't doing her performances, she changed back to a regular jersey (covered with even more autographs) and she would carry the monkeys with her.  Very bizarre!

But her enthusiasm and friendliness was infectious, she would do that  knuckle hitting thing with people when ever she passed by.  Truly a super fan...

ゲーム後、ドームの隣のハードロークカフェへ食べた。僕は福岡に住んでいる時、ここでよく食べました。。。

After the game we went to the adjacent Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch:

Fukuoka has the best Hard Rock Cafe... (certainly a lot better than HK's...)

香港のハードロークよりいいよ！

(僕もスーパーファンスの服が有る！）

I used to come here once every couple weeks when I was living here, since it was the only American chain restaurant within several hundred miles!  (the only decent Tex-Mex you could find in Kyushu!)  Several of the wait staff were new, but a bunch of the old ones I knew from back in the day were still there...

On the way out, we were stuck in traffic again, but it helped me get this great sunset photo from the slowly crawling expressway:

Momochi, I will miss you!

サヨナラももち！

ps - the jersey was a gift from my Japanese teacher last year when I left Japan. I brought it with me because i figured there'd never be a less awkward place to wear it. It is quite loudly colored :-P

pps - in case you missed it, my LAST trip to a Japanese baseball game can be found here:

Hiroshima Carp vs Nippon Ham  Fighters - similar, but different!