Osaka, home of the best fans in baseball

Notice I didn't just say Japanese baseball.

We arrived in Osaka around rush hour and had a heck of a time finding our hostel due to some difficult signage in the metro (basically no english), but after a while we made it and settled in for the night. We considered going out and checking out the town, but thought better of it and opted instead for a quiet evening.

The next day we ate breakfast at a Japanese icon, Mister Donuts, and took the loop line to the Osaka Castle. If you ever wanted to know what a Japanese castle looks like, here you are. Osaka jo, as it's called, is surrounded by a moat and was a very important fortification for the shogun in the 16th and 17th centuries.



Instead of checking out the inside of the temple we chose to see the outside, save a few bucks, and move on to our next stop, Den Den Town otherwise known as electronic city. We checked out a bunch of stores mostly eyeing the Wii stuff, but because the Wii is region protected we were'nt looking to buy, just scout out games to look for in the US in the future. In that respect we succeeded and are really excited for a handful of new games to try over the next few months.

We killed the rest of the afternoon walking around Osaka, eating lunch at Wendys, yes we admit it, and people watching. The baseball was scheduled for 6 p.m. so we left on the trian about 4:45 to give ourselves plenty of time to take in the atmosphere.

Across Japan the Hanshin Tigers are reknowned to have the liveliest atmosphere, and they did not disappoint. We were sining and chanting for 9 innings straight, and even though the team was getting severely outplayed the whole night, the fans did not give up for a second. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures that do it justice right now, but hopefully the video will help.



The game ended with our home town Yakult Swallows from Tokyo defeating the Tigers 2-0, but it was still one of the most enjoyable games I've ever attended, and well worth the trip. It was a rush back to the hostel to grab our bags after the game and on to the bus station where we took the overnight bus back to Tokyo for 2 more weeks of fun with Masa and Tami chan.