Hanshin Tigers, Osaka Baseball 2016

We went to a baseball game in Japan! This was high on Kevin's to do list, but when we were planning our trip I initially rolled my eyes. We bought tickets to a game at the end of the week though and it ended up being perfect because the main thing to do in Osaka is eat all the food (so good!) and by the end of the week my feet were just giant agony blisters. Sitting and drinking beer was the best plan ever.

Me and Kevin in Koshien Stadium

Kevin loves baseball and he was pretty excited to be there. Plus it was really interesting to see the differences in an baseball outing. First of all, people were as nice to us as they were anywhere in Japan. Nicer. Someone showed us where to exchange our voucher for a ticket and a random person bought us two whiskey drinks during the game. Woah.

These young women serve draft beer from tanks!

Koshien Stadium is home of the Hanshin Tigers, sometimes called the Osaka Tigers. They were playing the Hiroshima Carp, which really doesn't sound like a sufficiently scary mascot.

Hanshin Tigers 

Hiroshima Carp in red

Eventually, we got hungry, and the food in the stadium was really strange. Also, each baseball player seemed to be advocating a different dish, so who was I supposed to believe?

I decided to listen to Shintaro Fujinami...

... and get this. It was delicious!

Whiskey from random Japanese guy! Thank you!

Also the Hanshin Tigers have this strange tradition that before the 7th inning everyone gets these provocatively shaped balloons in the color of their team - yellow for Hanshin Tigers and red for Hiroshima Carp- and then they release them at the same time.

Getting ready

Chanting songs and whatnot

Release!

Balloon-gasm!