Chunichi Dragons Baseball

We went to our first Nagoya Chunichi Dragon's baseball game last weekend. If the name sounds familiar, it's probably because you recognize it from the movie "Mr. Baseball" with Tom Selleck. The movie is about a baseball player who is traded to a Japanese team and has trouble fitting into society.

The seating was pretty comfortable, and we were fortunate enough to have good seats right behind third base. I was a little disappointed in the food selection, but that goes without saying when all I have to compare it to is the delicious garlic fries at the Seattle Mariner's baseball games! I was however impressed with the fact that you can bring drinks into the stadium - including alcohol! They just make you transfer it into a cup to get rid of the bottles and cans.

indoor stadium

The Dragon's have 3 mascots - a blue dragon, a pink dragon, and a koala. Apparently the story goes that Nagoya was the first city to get a koala in its zoo, therefore the team adopted the animal as their mascot.

I think the koala is a fan favorite.
Many of the kids even wore koala ears at the game.

My favorite was of course the pink dragon!
I love that their mascots look like cartoon characters.

I was impressed with the fans at the game... they get really into the game! The stadium was essentially divided in half, with Dragon's fans on one side, and the opponent fans on the other. Each side waved their team flags when their team was up to bat, and all fans sang songs and cheered. I was also impressed with the cleanliness of the stadium - we didn't see any trash on the floor, and the bottom of our shoes never got that sticky feeling that you get in most stadiums in the U.S.

cheering fans!

It was a fun experience, and I'm glad we went. The game itself was a bit boring, as it was tied 0-0 throughout the entire game until the Dragon's finally scored in the 10th inning. So I'm glad to report that they won, but I think our next adventure will be to check out Nagoya's soccer team.