The Hiroshima Toyo Carp team is a much supported but fairly dismally performing local baseball team. We went to see them play one ot the last games of the season against the Hanshin Tigers from Osaka.

It was predictably a pretty poor showing by the home team against the third on the table Tigers, but it was interesting to see the differences between western sports supporters and the Japanese.

Firstly it is refreshing to see the variety and general healthyness of sporting snacks; soup, yakitori, noodles, obento and of course popcorn and overpriced hotdogs but not only this the japanese are, as ever, super respectful and (for the most part) clean up their trash rather than leaving it wherever they happen to be....suprisingly you were also allowed to bring your own alcohol into the stadium, though you did have to empty it from the can or bottle into paper cups, I guess there just isnt the same problem with drunkenness here. It was a very family oriented event, which though it took place on a saturday night, seemed very like a sunday afternoon picnic atmosphere instead!

Also they are unwavering supporters of their team...as you can see the game was a complete whitewash but the stadium was still pretty full (the next final two games are sold out) and the fans wearing their favourite players shirt still chanted the same repetitive encouraging cheer throughout. They were also so very polite about it taking it in turns with only the batting teams fans chanting and everyone else staying strangely silent. I also thought it was interesting that they have special 'performance seats' in seperate raised sections for each team specifically for those fans that want to be especially involved and noisy...this wasnt messy like you would think, though a lot of them were drunk, it was highly organized with band music and flag waving in time...amazing is the only word....

After the game instead of hurling abuse they were excited to see them as they drove away on the team bus, crowding around to catch a glimpse of the sporting celebrities...now anywhere else there would be a lot being said about how crap they were but not here, saying anything bad about anyone or anything is to be avoided at all costs...

I do feel bad for the Hiroshima supporters though as the team has a low salary cap and very little money to spend on players so any half-decent young player they might nurture inevitably gets stolen by teams with more money to throw about...but again this just speaks to the nature of the Japanese and their sense of pride...its kinda endearing in a way...