Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Game

Professional baseball in Japan is nothing close to what it is in the US. I think there are very few ballparks that carry the level of passion for the game as they do here in Japan. Our second year in a row attending a game over Labor Day weekend, we got started early Saturday morning on the Shinkansen.

The Japanese E2 Series Shinkansen. Traveling up to 170 miles per hour and providing a comfort level far beyond any bus, car, or plane. Well plane that you and I can afford anyway. After about two hours on the train we arrived in Sendai, walked about 6 blocks to our hotel, The Holiday Inn, and then made our way down to what is officially known as "Kleenex Stadium Miyagi." Home of the Rakuten Eagles.

Pregame festivities include everything from kids playing catch in the outfield, cheerleaders running up and down the foul lines, and a giant stinky fish fry outside the ballpark. With the game underway, the entire stadium was chanting each players custom fight song which I've yet to fully comprehend...even when the American players are up to bat.

Throughout the game we had rain showers come and go, saw some good baseball, ate "interesting" ballpark food, and participated in the 7th inning stretch custom of releasing these red balloons following a Japanese equivalent of Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

While the Eagles couldn't quite pull out a win in extra innings, we were both happy to be back in Sendai over Labor Day weekend and keeping with what seems to be our Ryan and Sandy standard for any trip...we enjoyed a solid downpour on the walk back to the hotel.

Hakkoda Mountains Hike

Labor Day weekend we set out to duplicate our travels from last year. So happens the weather was feeling festive as well and decided to treat us to the same cloudy rainy Labor Day weekend as the year before. Not deterred, we set off for the Hakkoda mountains for a trip along the ridge lines of the three peaks. Rather than make the hike up this year though, we opted for the Gondola ride. Something Sandy has yet to experience here in Japan.

By contrast, this is the same area in the dead of winter.

Reaching the top we set off to make the best use of the 4 hour window of exploration. Following a narrow path, overgrown with evergreens and other plants, we made our way along a planked trail towards the first peak.

After about an hour of trekking we made it to the top. The next group of pictures is a random spattering of the views we had while walking from peak to peak. In some ways I wish we would have had clear skies, but in others, the low lying clouds crawling along the mountain tops made for interesting pictures. Enjoy.





Our total time on the mountain was cut short though. About half way through the hike we heard what sounded like faint thunder. Not second guessing ourselves, we tucked tail headed back to the Gondola. On our way back it became very obvious that it was, in fact, thunder that we heard from a distance. The last 15 minutes of our return trip was a total downpour with cloud to cloud lightning making it all the more unnerving.

But, we did make it back, we did survive, and these are some of the pictures we have to show for it.

Tomorrow we change gears and hit up a Japanese pro baseball game in Sendai.