22 December: Japanese sports
Dec. 22nd, 2014 21:32Goodness, I'm behind on everything. I blame Festivids.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seekingferret asked about Japanese sports.
I don't actually know too much about Japanese sports! The first time I lived here I went to see American football (Kyoto University vs. Ritsumeikan University), sumo, and a Hanshin Tigers baseball game. The football game remains the only one I've seen in its entirety; the interesting thing was the composition of the cheerleading squad: they had a mixed-gender band, a group of dudes in a made-up hakama/kimono outfit combo who were in the stands leading the crowd in cheers (we were given cheer sticks and a handout with songs to sing. Our side was terrible so all we sang were the defense songs), and girls in stereotypical cheerleader outfits down on the field.
The baseball game was much more interesting--in Japan in the seventh inning stretch everyone releases the balloons they bought on the way in, and since the stadium is so small (about 30K people?) it's like being in a sea of balloons floating upwards. Of course it's bad for the environment, but it was cool. And the style of the game is very different here--it's like baseball was in the States before the 1990s, when everyone started doping. The game is much faster-paced and more dynamic because the "home run or nothing" mentality also isn't a thing here. I like that, because the strategy aspects of baseball are something that has always appealed to me.
Sumo was cool, too. I need to see about getting tickets up here in Tokyo, though in recent years the revelations about bullying and match-fixing (not very surprising, to be clear) have somewhat tarnished the sport's reputation. When I went we made a day of it and watched the entire first half of the matches from ringside seats, because it's totally okay to sit in other people's seats as long as they're not there, not to mention eat food and drink beer. And then when Asashoryu lost everyone threw their cushions (zabuton), which was pretty hilarious.
It's my highly subjective impression that figure skating and horseracing are enjoying higher profiles recently. The figure skating thing I'm pretty sure of; Yuzuru Hanyu's latest sports feats regularly make the news, and I see his face around Tokyo fairly frequently. Other than that, I've seen the Seijin-no-Hi archery at Sanjusangen-do and mounted archery and sacred kickball (okemari) at Kamigamo Shrine. Sumo evolved out of shrine festivals, after all, and a number of shrine events still have a sports component. Those are all pretty cool because whatever people are doing, they're doing it in elaborate costumes.
seekingferret asked about Japanese sports. I don't actually know too much about Japanese sports! The first time I lived here I went to see American football (Kyoto University vs. Ritsumeikan University), sumo, and a Hanshin Tigers baseball game. The football game remains the only one I've seen in its entirety; the interesting thing was the composition of the cheerleading squad: they had a mixed-gender band, a group of dudes in a made-up hakama/kimono outfit combo who were in the stands leading the crowd in cheers (we were given cheer sticks and a handout with songs to sing. Our side was terrible so all we sang were the defense songs), and girls in stereotypical cheerleader outfits down on the field.
The baseball game was much more interesting--in Japan in the seventh inning stretch everyone releases the balloons they bought on the way in, and since the stadium is so small (about 30K people?) it's like being in a sea of balloons floating upwards. Of course it's bad for the environment, but it was cool. And the style of the game is very different here--it's like baseball was in the States before the 1990s, when everyone started doping. The game is much faster-paced and more dynamic because the "home run or nothing" mentality also isn't a thing here. I like that, because the strategy aspects of baseball are something that has always appealed to me.
Sumo was cool, too. I need to see about getting tickets up here in Tokyo, though in recent years the revelations about bullying and match-fixing (not very surprising, to be clear) have somewhat tarnished the sport's reputation. When I went we made a day of it and watched the entire first half of the matches from ringside seats, because it's totally okay to sit in other people's seats as long as they're not there, not to mention eat food and drink beer. And then when Asashoryu lost everyone threw their cushions (zabuton), which was pretty hilarious.
It's my highly subjective impression that figure skating and horseracing are enjoying higher profiles recently. The figure skating thing I'm pretty sure of; Yuzuru Hanyu's latest sports feats regularly make the news, and I see his face around Tokyo fairly frequently. Other than that, I've seen the Seijin-no-Hi archery at Sanjusangen-do and mounted archery and sacred kickball (okemari) at Kamigamo Shrine. Sumo evolved out of shrine festivals, after all, and a number of shrine events still have a sports component. Those are all pretty cool because whatever people are doing, they're doing it in elaborate costumes.