During our visits to Japan, we experienced a culture to which we had no direct connection. Even though the culture was different, there were many touchstones from home. Below are some of the customs about which we learned traveling in Japan.
1. The Language Barrier
Traveling to a land where you neither read or speak the language can be daunting. However, we found that in urban areas that there is enough English present to put you at ease. Virtually all signage has English as well as Japanese, so navigating your way is relatively easy.
Traveling outside of the major urban areas could present more of a challenge when it comes to communicating with locals. For example, we found that Fukushima and Sendai had much less of an English presence than Tokyo or Osaka. These cities offered us our real first taste of being in Japan. Still, in these areas, there were still some reminders of home.
Domino’s Pizza in Fukushima, Japan (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
If you plan to travel outside of the more urban areas of Japan, it might be a good idea to load Google Translate (or something similar) on your phone. To be safe, I loaded a version of Translate with a static dictionary, in the event we found ourselves outside of good cell reception.
2. Walking on the left side
The Japanese drive on the left side of the road, and they, for the most part, walk on the left side of the sidewalk, and the left side of stairs. The only large scale exception to this rule we saw was in Osaka, where it seemed customary to walk on the right. Of course, not everyone does this. In Tokyo, this custom seemed less rigid, with people walking on each side (much like you might find in Manhattan). Overall, to be considerate, try to walk on the left side.
2. Interacting with locals
As a rule, it seems as though the Japanese shy away from dealing with foreigners. In urban areas, this not quite as evident as in more suburban or rural areas. In fact, we had a young Japanese woman ask if we needed help purchasing train tickets at Tokyo Station. By contrast, I offered to help an elderly couple in Tokyo carrying boxes that were clearly too large for them. They politely declined and went about their way.
Don’t be insulted if a seat next to you on a train remains empty, even during peak travel times. It’s just their way.
4. Tipping
In Japan, there is no tipping. Unlike everywhere else we have been, the Japanese see tipping as rude or an insult, as though you were paying them extra to do their jobs well. This includes restaurant servers, hotel employees and cab drivers.
5. Eating on the Run in Japan
While most places we’ve been have convenience stores in abundance, there are ubiquitous in Japan. In virtually every urban area we’ve visited, there are 7-11 stores. Just like in the US, you can grab a quick snack or drink. Unlike the US, however, you can actually get a small meal at the 7-11, and even eat it there. In fact, we saw as many people eating at 7-11s as more traditional fast food restaurants.
The 7-11 stores are far from the only convenience stores in Japan. On seemingly every block stood a Family Mart or a Lawsons. These stores have plenty of snacks and drinks too, and some are even located near or within hotels in Tokyo. In addition, there are vending machines almost everywhere, offering drinks and water. If you travels keep you busy, convenience stores and vending machines will keep you fueled until you time for a meal.
You want to see baseball games in Japan? Having been there twice (with another trip scheduled for May 2020), I would say GO! While baseball is baseball, regardless of where it’s played, the Japanese passion for the game alone is worth the visit. A Japanese baseball is more like a college football game in the US, or a European soccer match. If you want a taste of what a Japanese game is like, check thisout.
There are companies that specialize in Japanese baseball tours, such JapanBall Baseball Tours. The tours provide chaperones who know Japan, and provide tickets and activities while you are there. If you are not comfortable traveling through a foreign country unescorted, this choice is probably for you. However, if you are a bit more adventurous, it IS possible to travel in a Japan to see the games without engaging the services of a tour group. My brother and I have done it twice, having never been overseas before.
The most important part of the trip is planning. Due to my brother Jeff’s careful and extensive research, we have some tips for putting together a baseball trip to Japan, including how to get tickets to games, getting around Japan using the amazing train system, as well as some insight about what we’ve learned about Japanese culture. Of course, the list we provide is by no means comprehensive, nor is it offered as such. Instead, it is a list of things we’ve learned that could help you to plan a trip to see Japanese baseball in person.
1. Check the Nippon Professional Baseball schedule to start planning your trip.
The definitive source for the schedule of Japanese baseball games is here. Of course, this site is in Japanese, but any modern browser should be able to translate the schedule competently. When viewing the schedule, it is important to note that the home team is on the left side under the Match Card header. To learn more about the teams and the cities they call home, check out the NPB home page.
Another good source for the NPB schedule is JapanBall Baseball Tours. That site breaks down the schedule to make it much easier to understand. The schedule there is colored coded, with additional information about the teams and their home cities.
2. Get your baseball tickets BEFORE you leave for Japan
Baseball is exceedingly popular in Japan, and all teams draw very well (the notable exception being the Orix Buffaloes in Osaka). While it is possible to get tickets from either box office at each park, or from ticket kiosks at 7-11 stores, that might end up being a disappointing strategy. For example, the Hiroshima Carp frequently sell out for the season long before the first pitch on Opening Day.
Attempting to get game tickets from the team website can be tricky. My brother used this site to follow step-by-step instructions to by tickets for the Hanshin Tigers. Purchasing tickets for the Tokyo Giants was fairly simple here. For other teams, the process of buying tickets can be daunting, if not impossible if you don’t read Japanese.
In order to avoid the disappointment, I’d suggest getting the tickets through a ticket broker. Be careful when choosing a vendor for the tickets. I had a VERY frustrating experience with Viagogo while trying to secure tickets for a game in Hiroshima. There are a few others that I have not tried, and cannot impart any intelligent review of their services.
Though it may sound biased (since I’ve mentioned this company twice so far), we have had a very good experience using japanballtickets.com. Using this website, we were able to select the numbers of tickets we needed (though we were not able to select our exact seats, as you can in the US) for each game we wanted to attend. We were quoted prices for the seats, and even received rebates when the tickets were obtained for less than the quoted price! For more information on tickets and pricing, check out the site above.
When ordering the tickets, you are prompted for an address in Japan to which the tickets will be delivered. You don’t need to do this immediately; when we purchased the tickets, we did not yet know where we would be staying in Japan. Once you know what hotel you will use, you can provide that information to them. The tickets for all of our games were delivered to the hotel in which we stayed the first night. We were VERY pleased with their services, and plan to use them again this year.
3. Traveling while you are in Japan
Early in our planning to visit Japan, we ruled out driving. Driving through busy streets on the left side of the road while trying to read road signs in Japanese was not my idea of a vacation. My brother Jeff did extensive research about traveling in Japan, and decided the train system was the way to go. Part of that system is the bulletin train, or Shinkansen. Japan offers a significant discounts for visitors, much less than Japanese nationals would pay. You can buy 7, 14 and 21 days passes, depending on the length of your stay.
You can read about the JapanRail (JR) passes here. We recommend obtaining the Green Pass. This option allows you to make reservations for the bullet train, assuring your seats will be available for your excursions. While the prices may seem steep, this service is HIGHLY recommended. Just two trips on the bullet train pays for the pass, and we’ve traveled from Hokkaido in the north to Hiroshima in the south on the bullet train.
If you plans in Japan are firm, you might want to map out your travel on the Shinkansen BEFORE you leave. Since we knew the cities we would visit to see the games, my brother visited the JR sites (For trips from Tokyoand west, for trips fromTokyoand east) to plan the route we would take. He then used the information to make reservations for all of our travels within Japan on the bullet train at once.
There are a couple of things to know about the JapanRail pass. When you purchase the pass online (which you should do no more than 60 days before you arrive, but leave enough time to receive the information at home before you leave), you will receive an Exchange Order. The Exchange Order is the redeemed for the rail pass once in Japan. You can obtain the pass at any JR Exchange Office. You may want to Google the location of the JR Exchange office nearest to where you are staying; it may not be coincident with the nearest JR Office. We discovered this staying in Shinjuku. The processes takes about 20 minutes, at which time you can make reservations on the bullet trains during your stay.
4. Using money in Japan
Despite being a nation on the cutting edge of technology, Japan is still a largely cash society. More places are accepting credit cards, though these places may NOT accept foreign credit cards (we experienced ourselves at the Buffaloes team store in Osaka). You can check with your credit card company to see if their services are accepted in Japan.
In any event, we would recommend taking some Japanese currency (called yen) with you. You can get some yen from your bank before you go. The cash could help with purchasing train tickets from the airport to the city in which you are staying, for example. Once you arrive, you can obtain local currency at an ATM at any 7-11 store or Japanese post office (remember your card company will charge a fee for foreign transactions).
The first mini road trip on the 2019 baseball season in the United States took place on the weekend of June 15th/16th 2019. My brother came down to Maryland the night before, and our trip began after 900 am Saturday morning. Google mapped out a 250 mile trip in a little more than four hours, placing us at the hotel outside Durham, NC in the early afternoon. Following lunch in VA about halfway through the trip, we stopped at Target store to purchase a clamp for my GoPro Hero 7 Black camera.
We found the clamp quickly, but waited for what seemed like an infinity on line to buy it. Lines simply weren’t moving, and nobody in the store appeared to know why. There were whispers of problems with the registers, and we were informed by management that Target’s online presence was also offline. Not wanting to waste any more time waiting, we left the store. Google informed us there was another Target nearby, so we headed there. Before we could get to the door, someone told us that the store was closed, due to register problems. We read later than Target’s entire system was down nationwide for nearly two hours, just as we tried to buy a part.
We found the part at an adjacent Best Buy, and we were on our way. The delay placed us nearly an hour behind, and we didn’t reach the hotel until nearly 400 pm. Luckily, the weather was wonderful, warm with relatively low humidity. Not being a fan of heat or humidity, my worst fears of what we might encounter in NC in mid June went unfounded.
Durham Bulls Athletic Park, home plate entrance, June 15th 2019. (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
The stadium was about 15 minutes from the hotel, ensconced in downtown Durham. Like most urban ballparks, there was parking offsite, and we found a garage that was reasonably priced. Typically, we are wary of parking in multiple level garages, which can result in a VERY long wait at the end of the game. Since we had some time before the gates opened, we explored the environs adjacent to the ballpark. As is the case with urban parks, the area was filled with shops, bars and restaurants, and it seemed as though this location was in the process of renovation.
Before going into the park, we looked through the team store. On the wall next to the store were plaques of retired Bulls numbers. Of course, not being a Bulls fan, we did not recognize the numbers and the significance behind them. However, there WAS a number we did recognize. Any fan of the movie Bull Durham would know this number instantly.
Photo credit: Jeff Hayes
Once inside the team store, there were MANY references to the movie (not surprisingly), with Crash Davis and Nuke Laloosh jerseys for sale. To be sure, I expected some nod to the movie, but this was more than I anticipated. However, I’m sure that the merchandise with these names sell very well here, as fans take home a little piece of the movie.
We entered the ballpark at the home plate gate, and conducted our typical pre game tour of the stadium. While this is NOT the same stadium from the movie, Durham Bulls Athletic Park is a beautiful park. Even though this wasn’t the park from the movie, there WAS a familiar site in left field.
The snorting bull in left field at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham NC. According to Wikipedia, this is NOT the bull from the movie Bull Durham (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
In Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the snorting bull is located in left field; in Bull Durham, the bull was in right field. There were no other obvious nods to the past, but this park didn’t need them. It stands on its own as a great minor league experience.
Typically, we select seats for baseball games in a particular manner. The preferred location is in the lower level between home plate and third or first base. These seats are best for taking pictures, and depending on the stadium, the best view of the field. If these seats are not available, we prefer to be higher, as close to home plate as possible. This usually occurs at major league parks with strong fan bases.
For this park, we chose seats in the lower level, right behind home plate. Because of the netting, these seats are worse for taking pictures, but here, it offered an amazing view of a beautiful ballpark. Like many urban ballparks we have visited, there were condominiums in left center field. If I worked in the area, I’d certainly have to investigate the feasibility of living in one of these homes.
The view from our seats at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, June 15th, 2019. Though the net did not afford the best picture taking, the seats DID give us the best view of the park (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
While we knew the Bulls’ opponent for this game would be the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (the AAA affiliate of the New York Yankees), what we didn’t know is that there would be two major leaguers on rehab assignments tonight. Both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were in the lineup, batting first and second, respectively. Based on the buzz from the crowd, they were fully aware these players would be here. Of course, the two players were fully cognizant of the attention they would garner, and made sure they were in view of the crowd at every opportunity.
In fact, Judge signed autographs near the on deck circle before each at bat. Normally, even at the minor league level, this behavior is either strongly discouraged or outright forbidden. Given the situation, it seemed as though the Bulls’ management was content to look the other way, especially since it did not interfere with play. Each hitter had four at bats, with Judge DHing and Stanton in left field. Though neither player had a hit tonight, most fans didn’t seem to mind. Their mere presence was enough to make the fans’ night.
Aaron Judge (foreground) and Giancarlo Stanton (background) posing before hitting in the top of the 1st inning. Think these guys knew they were being photographed and videoed??? (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
The RailRiders had a couple of other major leaguers in the lineup, as well as a few players that have been rising through the Yankees minor league system. My brother lives near Arm&Hammer Park, home of the Yankees AA team in Trenton, NJ, and he saw a few of these players there recently. We did not recognize many of the players in the Bulls lineup (the Durham Bulls are the AAA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays) . The game itself was a tight affair, with the RailRiders starter Raynel Espinal allowing one runs in six innings of work.
A snippet of Aaron Judge’s at bat in the third inning.
The Bulls starter, Jake Croneworth, pitched the first inning, followed by four reliever. The quintet blanked the RailRiders on just two hits. The Bulls tacked on a run in the 7th, winning the game 2-0.
Photo credit: Jeff Hayes
After the game, we headed back to the hotel, ending a long day of travel and baseball.
Sunday, June 16th
Our next stop on the abbreviated road trip was High Point, NC, home of the High Point Rockers. The Rockers are the newest franchise in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. High Point is about an hour from Durham, and since the game didn’t start until 205 pm, we had time in the morning to explore the area. Our target was Eno River State Park, located in Durham. Walking paths located adjacent to the parking lot made for easy access to the park. The portion of the park we visited contained the remains of the Cole Mills, along the banks of the river.
One of the buildings near the old Cole Mill.
We walked along the river, reaching a waterfall. Beyond the waterfall, the river continued upstream into a field ringed by pine trees. While we didn’t see much in the way of wildlife on our journey, we did find some turtles sunning themselves on fallen tree trunks. These particular turtles were very skittish, plopping into the water whenever we made sounds, or wandered too close to the riverbank. Following several attempts to get better looks at the turtles (during which time all of the remaining turtles jumped into the water), we headed back up the trail, leaving the turtles in peace.
Turtles enjoying the sunshine in Eno River State Park. Shortly after this picture was taken, these two dropped into the water as we got too close. (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
Wandering down the path, we enjoyed the warm but dry morning, splashed by wall to wall sunshine. Despite the beautiful weather, there were few others in the park. Before we knew it, we’d spent more than an hour there. After crossing a bridge spanning the river, we headed back toward the parking lot. Before leaving, we made one last visit to the waterfall. The serenity of the waterfall was inviting, and we spent some time there before getting back on the road. If there was more time, we could have spent the morning there. If you are in the area, I highly recommend a visit.
Driving along Interstate 40 toward High Point, we realized we would be passing fairly close to Greensboro. Originally, we attempted to fit Greensboro into the schedule for this weekend, but the Grasshoppers were out of town. Since we were nearby, we decided to make a quick stop to see the stadium. Located in downtown Greensboro, First National Bank Field is the home of the Grasshoppers, the South Atlantic League single A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
When we arrived, that portion of Greensboro was very quiet at noon. Even though the Grasshoppers were away, the ballpark was in use, and apparently open to the public. Assuming that to be true, we entered the park to see a game in progress. There were no outward signs of the names of the teams playing, nor what league they were in. Like any other park we’ve visited, we wandered around the ballpark, taking pictures along the way.
First National Bank Field in Greensboro, NC. Just like other ballparks in urban areas we’ve visited, there are condominiums lining the right field fence. The ballpark was beautiful in the day time; it seems as though it is even more attractive at night. (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
After spending about 30 minutes at First National Bank Field, we continued on our way to High Point, reaching the stadium about an hour before the scheduled start time. BB&T Point is the home of the High Point Rockers, the newest addition to the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The ballpark is located on the edge of downtown High Point, surrounded by commercial property .
BB&T Point, home of the High Point Rockers. (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
Parking was a bit confusing, as there did not seem to be a dedicated parking lot at the park. We arrived early enough to park on the street, but even that option came with some question marks. We opted to park in a private lot across the street, and parking was reasonable ($5.00). We walked over to the nearest gate to enter the ballpark not long after arriving, as gates open about an hour before game time.
However, the gates did NOT open on time. With an increasingly restless crowd waiting at the gate, fans were finally allowed to enter less than 30 minutes before first pitch. The late entrance left us little time for our pre-game ballpark tour, but we managed to take pictures before heading to the seats. The obligatory stop at the third base concession stand provided standard ballpark fare. My hot dogs were fried, but ultimately tasty, without the aftertaste common to ballpark dogs.
Inside BB&T Point, home of the Rockers. Note the surface is AstroTurf; both the “grass” and “dirt” are turf. (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
One of the aspects of the ballpark that caught our attention was the playing surface. Many newer ballparks have some version of turf, but BB&T Point had something we’ve never seen before. Not only was the “grass” made of AstroTurf, so was the “dirt” portion of the field (including the mound and batters boxes). Presumably an attempt to mitigate maintenance costs, the unique field was as attractive as it was interesting. The weather was pleasantly warm for the 205 pm start, as we took our seats in the lower level on the third base side. Much like we’ve seen elsewhere, the Sunday afternoon game was lightly attended, which is odd considering this is the inaugural season for the Rockers.
The Rockers’ opponent this afternoon was the Long Island Ducks. The Ducks have a strong connection to the New York Mets (our favorite squadron). The connection starts with manager Wally Backman, the 2nd baseman for the 1986 world championships, and coach Ed Lynch, a starter for the Mets in the 1980s. The starting lineup for the Ducks featured former Met outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis, and former Met farmhand LJ Mazzilli (son of perennial fan favorite Lee Mazzilli).
Rockers pitcher Seth Simmons delivers a pitch during his start against the Long Island Ducks. (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
The game was tied 2-2 entering the bottom of the 10th. The Atlantic League, like Minor League Baseball, starts every extra half-inning with the batter who made the last out in the previous inning placed at 2nd base. This rule change was implemented to spur scoring in extra innings, in hopes of shortening games. In this case, the rule change worked, as the runner placed at 2nd base scored on a single, giving the Rockers 3-2 win.
My brother’s picture of the action from centerfield at BB&T Point. (Photo credit: Jeff Hayes)
With a long drive back to Maryland ahead of us, we did not linger at the ballpark long. Overall, the experience was enjoyable; a very good game at an interesting ballpark. If you find yourself in the area, the ballpark is worth the visit, if for no other reason than to see the unique playing surface. However, the sustainability of Atlantic League baseball in High Point may be difficult, even with a brand new ballpark. There are other baseball options within driving distance, and from just one visit, it was tough to determine the level of baseball interest in the area.
Baseball Travels 