Fukuoka Baseball

Ohori Park's lake

On Friday, September 16, after work, three Nakatsu homies and I headed out to Fukuoka for the weekend. We were treating ourselves to a baseball game! We stopped at a conbini for snacks, as is the usual custom on any kind of outing, and were on our way. The drive took about two hours, so it was already getting dark while we were in the car. But it was fine because the company was great — I really enjoyed chatting with H in the backseat.

We got to our Airbnb (what is the correct capitalization of that acronym, anyway?) on the outskirts of Fukuoka around 8:30 p.m., where our host was waiting with welcome beers! What a nice guy! We hung around drinking them for a little bit, then he, who hadn't had any to drink, drove us into town to an okonomiyaki place he recommended. Then he said farewell, as he'd be staying with a friend the next two nights in order to afford us the apartment for the weekend.

The fateful okonomiyaki

Unfortunately, after a few bites of okonomiyaki, I started feeling really sick and had to huddle in the bathroom of the conbini across the street trying to throw up since the restaurant restroom was occupied. I finally emerged feeling somewhat better, to the concerned faces of my comrades. I assured them I was ok, and we headed out to the Daimyo neighborhood of Fukuoka to see what we could see.

We walked along the river and found an obscure bar on the fourth or fifth floor of a thin building — which there are so many of here in Japan — and moseyed on up. We sat and chatted about all manner of things before heading back to the Airbnb.

The next day, we got a lazy start and headed back into the city. We took the bus to Hakata, the main train station in Fukuoka, and from there took a ten-minute walk to Canal City, a large shopping complex that I thought was supposed to have canals running through it. It did not. But never mind, we were there to see Ramen Stadium and to get our grub on, so we did. Everyone got a variation of the famed tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen, and we were thoroughly satisfied.

The garden

After lunch, H and I did some shopping, and then we all reunited to walk through the city a little more. We took the subway to Ohori Park, which is super beautiful! We started walking across the lake on the long bridge/mini-park, and took a break for H to consume her adult beverage. Yay for no open container laws! Just then, it started to rain. We sauntered our way on, toward the nearby art museum for shelter. But just as we approached it, we stumbled upon a Japanese-style garden on the outskirts of the park. Since it wasn't raining too heavily, we shelled out a few hundred yen to explore the garden. H and I got one too many mosquito bites while frolicking through the garden, so we headed out again.

Finally, it was time to get to the baseball game! By this time it was raining much harder, so we took shelter in a cab and made our way to Yahuoku Dome. Once there, we took a brief stop at the omiyage/gift shop to get souvenirs for our coworkers, and then we entered the stadium.

The game was great — my mom had insisted that things at a Japanese baseball game were very different from ones at home, and I couldn't put my finger on what was different until J mentioned that all the cheering seemed to be very much in chorus. There was a lot of coordinated clapping and such. And of course, the balloon thing. You'll just have to watch the video to see what I mean.