Dearest Rachel –
The flow through Tokyo Station is like a human ten-lane expressway, with everybody changing lanes at all times. It’s fascinating to contemplate, but when you’re down there, who has time for that? You’re rushing to and fro with all of the other lemmings, trying to make your train. Pausing in the middle of this torrent might very well get you swept away.
Even for a group of holidaymakers such as ourselves, we have a deadline to make; the first pitch is supposed to be at twelve noon, and we’re getting off the Shinkansen a little after eleven. We have to make our way to the Marunouchi line, and ride it past four or five stations to get to the Tokyo Dome, where the World Baseball Classic, the World Cup of baseball, is being held. Granted, the players are representing Australia and Czechia, so it’s not like it matters to any of us (or the locals, as it happens, which may have something to do with why the tickets were so cheap – only five thousand yen apiece, or somewhere in the low thirty-dollar range), and we wouldn’t exactly be bothered if we missed a few pitches, but it would be annoying for things to be underway before we got there.
And so we run as fast as we safely and politely can to get through the station.
Daniel and I would have been able to jam both of our backpacks in a single large locker; however, none were available, and we had to settle for a pair of small lockers, which, to be fair only cost a hundred yen more in total, but require going through the process of unlocking and locking twice over. At least they were adjacent to each other, so that’s convenient. However, while I had planned on paying for the locker rental with cash, I was informed that I’d be better off paying for it using my Suica transit debit card. But that posed a different problem; I’d effectively depleted my balance, and didn’t have enough on it to board the train to take us to the dome. I had to borrow a card from one of the others in order to get in, as well as out of our destination station. I’m going to have to be walked through the process of restocking this thing so we can make our way around Tokyo over the next couple of days.
In any event, though, we do manage to make it there before the first pitch – although not quite before noon, actually. Our seats are actually quite good; on the first base side, less than thirty rows up. We’ve even got the access path in front of us, so we can stretch our legs, as long as no one is walking by at the moment. Unfortunately, that’s the only thing we can stretch out; these seats are clearly built for Japanese people, not Americans. Even Daniel feels a bit confined by these seats, and he’s thin as a rail.
At one point, we wound up on the Jumbotron for a moment, but I didn’t have the presence of mind to take a picture to confirm it. Indeed, we barely realized that Daniel was up there, with his distinctive neon green sleeves, in time to turn to face the camera in the second level press box before the moment passes.
I should mention that there’s none of the rancor and rivalry that we experienced at Fenway. No one being cheered against here; what cheering is being done (and not everybody is cheering like they have a dog in the fight; we’re not alone in that here) is only for one team or the other. It’s civil and positive… although it could also be considered somewhat dull, if it didn’t pass so quickly.
Indeed, after the third inning, there’s not much in the way of offensive activity. Czechia struck first with a bit of small ball, but Australia answered almost right away with a three-run shot into left field. After that, things settled down for almost the entire game, until the very last frame. No, it wasn’t a case of last-minute heroics for the Cinderella Czechs; the Aussies got a solo home run, followed by a steady advance of another player around the bases (albeit punctuated by the player on base behind him being caught stealing second). There was a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, but the close call at the plate was overturned, ending the inning for the Aussies. And while Czechia (the putative home team for this particular game) got a man into scoring position during their last frame, that was all they could manage. So by the time the fat lady was singing, the score looked line more of a mild blowout – 5-1, Australia – than the action on the game would have suggested.
Incidentally, for all I was (silently) rooting for Czechia to win as Cinderellas, it appears that the Aussies fit the description on a more macro basis at this point. The grouping that’s playing here in Tokyo include Japan (of course), Korea and Taiwan (identified as “Chinese Taipei” here to avoid offending certain powerful groups). On paper, there should be no hope for Australia to advance to the elimination round; however, at this point, they’ve gone 2-0, and just might have a chance yet. If they do, it will be a really big deal for the folks Down Under. So I can’t consider them the villains for washing out the Czechs.
Amazing to think that we still have yet to get to the hotel (again) and get settled in for our farewell dinner and the like. It looks like I’ll have to put together at least one more letter about the events of the day, honey, but until then, I’d appreciate it if you could continue to keep an eye on us, and wish us luck, as we’re going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 