10-23-2003, 09:38 AM
Okay, I just experienced Japanese Mass Insanity.
I went out on a UBS event. I walked in to hear what appeared to be 30,000 people engaging in mass karoke. I was terrified.
Fortunately, a baseball game then broke out. The fans in the US could take some serious lessons from the Japanese. In the US, you have a few random drunks shouting a few random words. In Japan, you have, well, everybody shouting and doing everything IN UNISON. 30,000 people rooting for the team in Grey, singing IN KEY and pounding on these noise makers IN RYTHM and spontaneously BREAKING OUT INTO THE SAME SONG ALL OVER THE STADIUM provides an amazing sight. Not to mention the small group of people -- 500 or so -- in the outfield doing the same for the team in white...
Amazing.
After several minutes, it then dawned on me. The home team was the team in white. Yes, 30,000 people were in the stadium cheering for the visitors. So, I had to ask why. The answer was simple. You see, back in 1984 the Hajshin Tigers last won the Japan World Series; it was the start of the last bull market. There is a belief in Japan that if they win again, the stock market will be a bull market. So everyone in japan wants them to win...
Go figure.
From there, the game progressed as a normal baseball game would with some amusing things. The 7th Inning stretch wasn't so much of a 7th Inning Stretch, it was a 7th Inning "Sing the Hajshin Tigers Song and Release your Giant Balloons that look like giant pieces of the male anatomy". Everybody had a balloon. Picture, if you will, 25,000 balloons of dozens of different colours flying thru the air in this stadium, each balloon equipped with a loud whistling device.
Insanity.
I tried the food. Warning : don't. The octapus was terrible, the curried noodles smelled terrible, I don't like cheap saki, Food on a stick is reserved for State Fairs back home, and um...I'm surprised some of the dishes didn't get up and run away. This is, after all, Japan...
Yuck.
The game continued, with the home team literally being ignored. The visitors won, and the fans were happy the home team lost. The game was quite good, really, but you go to watch the fans.
So that's baseball, Japanese Style...
I went out on a UBS event. I walked in to hear what appeared to be 30,000 people engaging in mass karoke. I was terrified.
Fortunately, a baseball game then broke out. The fans in the US could take some serious lessons from the Japanese. In the US, you have a few random drunks shouting a few random words. In Japan, you have, well, everybody shouting and doing everything IN UNISON. 30,000 people rooting for the team in Grey, singing IN KEY and pounding on these noise makers IN RYTHM and spontaneously BREAKING OUT INTO THE SAME SONG ALL OVER THE STADIUM provides an amazing sight. Not to mention the small group of people -- 500 or so -- in the outfield doing the same for the team in white...
Amazing.
After several minutes, it then dawned on me. The home team was the team in white. Yes, 30,000 people were in the stadium cheering for the visitors. So, I had to ask why. The answer was simple. You see, back in 1984 the Hajshin Tigers last won the Japan World Series; it was the start of the last bull market. There is a belief in Japan that if they win again, the stock market will be a bull market. So everyone in japan wants them to win...
Go figure.
From there, the game progressed as a normal baseball game would with some amusing things. The 7th Inning stretch wasn't so much of a 7th Inning Stretch, it was a 7th Inning "Sing the Hajshin Tigers Song and Release your Giant Balloons that look like giant pieces of the male anatomy". Everybody had a balloon. Picture, if you will, 25,000 balloons of dozens of different colours flying thru the air in this stadium, each balloon equipped with a loud whistling device.
Insanity.
I tried the food. Warning : don't. The octapus was terrible, the curried noodles smelled terrible, I don't like cheap saki, Food on a stick is reserved for State Fairs back home, and um...I'm surprised some of the dishes didn't get up and run away. This is, after all, Japan...
Yuck.
The game continued, with the home team literally being ignored. The visitors won, and the fans were happy the home team lost. The game was quite good, really, but you go to watch the fans.
So that's baseball, Japanese Style...
Gullible isn't in the dictionary.