Umbrellas and Kimonos

Friday, July 27

After our much-needed day off Chantal, Joanne and I left Jennifer at the Arms and headed out to meet Mac—Jo’s friend (see Shibuya post). He is a mad sports fan and offered to take us to a baseball game. So off we went to catch the Tokyo Yakult Swallows play the Chunichi Dragons at Jingu Stadium. I must say, Jen stayed behind because she is not a big fan of baseball, but really it is a completely different experience from the North American game. First of all, we do not have Dudes leading well-orchestrated chants complete with trumpets and umbrellas! Yes, umbrellas. When we arrived Mac suggested we get some noisemakers; I got bats, Chantal a ball and glove clapper device and Joanne bought an umbrella—its function was not revealed to us until the first homerun. our seats were in the outfield, which was cool…Jingu is a small stadium and we could see just fine. The Dragons were up first and the other side of the park was going mad with noise. Mac informed us that those were the wankers cheering for Chunichi, and that our side, which was being extremely quiet and polite, would have the chance to make some noise. Finally the Swallows got up to bat and the well organized cheering was on! My bats got a work out and Mac’s loud English obscenities were amazing if only for the fact nobody knew what he was saying! Oh right, and the umbrellas…Everytime there is a homerun the whole crowd pulls out umbrellas and perform a song and umbrella chant! It is surreal. It is not clear why this is done, although it may have to do with the Giants now playing in an indoor stadium or that the retiring pitcher will shower using an umbrella!? In the end the underdog Swallows beat the Dragons 7-4, and Mac even came away with an autographed ball (even if it is from one of his most hated players!) The night was a blast—where else can you go to a baseball game and much on edamame and yakatori??? Also, I must thank our outrageously fun host Mac. Thanks Mac.




















Saturday, July 28

We got to sleep in a bit on Saturday morning, which was great considering the night we had. After breakfast and showers we all got ready for another crazy day in Tokyo. Saturday was Hanabi Day. Hanabi literally means fire flower. Any guesses? Fireworks. 22, 000 fireworks. I’m not joking. At noon Jen, Chanti, myself, Joanne, her friends Karen and Koki, Karen’s mom Anne, hopped on a train and hooked up with another one of Joanne’s friends Keiko to grab some prime seating along the Sumida river. We left at noon, but the fireworks did not start until 7pm. The reason for this is that zillions of people go and claim primo spots quite early. Anyhoo…it was stinking hot and we arrived along with the hordes (many of whom are dressed in traditional garb) to try to find some space. It was crazy! People were everywhere—and where there were no people, there were tarps and tape marking off the spots that were claimed by those who were probably now at work! Imagine in Canada going down to the lakeshore, taping off you spot, going to work and then going back fifteen minutes before the show and sitting on your tarp. I told Koki that in Toronto our spot would not be saved—he looked confused. To pass the time Keiko taught us how to make origami cranes, Koki taught us a Japanese card game and we ate, drank and laughed. Finally, as darkness fell the show began. I don’t know if it was because we were so close to the launching site, but they were the biggest fireworks I have ever seen. And it went on for 90 minutes! Just when you thought it couldn’t go on, it did. I took way too much video and Jen took tons of shots—but it won’t do it justice. Tokyo is awesome. And then to cap it off, when you think millions of people trying to get home would cause chaos, mayhem, rioting and such—everybody got up, picked up their garbage, and departed in a orderly, quiet and almost eerie fashion.