If you come to Hiroshima during baseball season, I highly recommend watching a Hiroshima Carp baseball game.
Not only does it immerse you in the local culture, but I guarantee it will An experience you won’t soon forget.
Here’s my experience at the competition!
Hiroshima Carps baseball game
We bought tickets at the stadium earlier in the day and found seats later in the evening. Nearby was a group of people who apparently attended every game and cheered on their team with a passion unmatched in an MLB game.
While enjoying our beers (brought to us by a guy lugging around a keg of unicorns) and the first few innings, one of the men walked up to us and handed us a bag of beer snacks. After much deliberation as to what exactly we were eating that was dry and jerky, we came to the conclusion that it was dried squid. The savory snacks are a great addition to our beers and I highly recommend trying them.
The first few games made us realize just how much the Japanese love the game.
Each player has their own unique music, which is played by the audience (and the whole band) when they take the stage. It’s the equivalent of a minor league game, but the stadium is packed and the crowd goes wild every game.
Excitement is contagious.
The best part is udon seems to be the food of choice. While hot dogs are considered traditional baseball game food, I was more than happy to eat a steaming bowl of fresh udon noodles.
About halfway through the game, some balloons were passed out. The balloon has a small piece of plastic at the end. After observing everyone around, we took advantage of the opportunity to inflate the balloon. However, unlike the others, we tied the balloon so the air couldn’t escape. After singing a song collectively, everyone in the audience released the balloons, which flew into the air screaming. The plastic piece at the end of the balloon turned out to be a noise generator powered by the air inside. All balloons, except ours, go into the air until they run out of propulsion. Since we tied one end of the balloon, our balloon floated quietly back to the ground. A group of people near us started laughing with glee at the sight of our little disaster, and quickly grabbed the balloon, unwrapped it, and launched it into the air with everyone else screaming (albeit with a slight delay).
We couldn’t help laughing either.
Even though the Carp ultimately lost the game, it was an amazing experience – one that helped make Hiroshima our favorite city to visit.
We highly recommend either city and encourage anyone visiting Japan to definitely visit Hiroshima.
