Inside the Tokyo Dome (Photo by machu) Konichiwa, baseball fans! Welcome to Major League Baseball's Opening Day 2008, live from sunny... Tokyo! Today's season opener marks the third time that the MLB season has started in Japan. The Oakland Athletics "host" the Boston Red Sox in a rodo gemu (road game) 5,200 miles from home -- and the crowd may cheer more for Sox superstar toshu (pitcher) Daisuke Matsuzaka and nakatsugi toshu (reliever) Hideki Okajima than for the "home" team. Whatever the outcome, enthusiastic Japanese puro yakyu (professional baseball) fans will pack the mammoth Tokyo Dome, while their American counterparts watch the action in the pre-dawn hours. The Tokyo Dome, the imposing kyujo (ballpark) that will host the series, is an impressive 55,000-seat stadium at the center of Tokyo Dome City. (The complex boasts an amusement park, historic gardens, hotels, arcades, bowling alleys, offtrack betting, a judo institute, and a hot springs spa.) The air-supported dome -- the first of its kind in Japan -- is the current home field for the Yomiuri Giants, previous home to the Nippon Ham Fighters (who may have the best name in baseball), and stands on the site of the historic Korakuen Stadium (which witnessed such feats as Michio Nishizawa's 28-inning, 311-pitch complete game -- ending in a 4-4 tie! -- in 1942). It also houses the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, honoring Japanese greats like Sadaharu Oh, with 868 lifetime homers (Barry who?). Baseball has provided an important cultural exchange between Japan and the United States over the years, with American All-Star teams helping to spark Japanese pro ball in the 1930s, and Japanese imports blazing through the Majors in recent years. We hope the recent Opening Day tradition will inspire new western interest in the Japanese game. Play yakyu! Suggested Sites... MLB: Opening Series Japan 2008 - complete coverage of the Red Sox-A's series in Tokyo. Japanese Baseball Primer - an introduction for new American fans. Japanese Baseball Daily - includes a yakyu dictionary, so you can learn terms from sanshin to honruida to tokutenken daritsu. Japanese Baseball - a brief history and some common baseball terms.

Directory categories: Major League Baseball, MLB Players, Baseball in Japan, Ballparks

Archived under: Ballparks, Baseball, Japan, MLB, Regional, Sports, Stadiums

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