Back in 2015 I made the momentous decision to switch my baseball allegiance from Chiba Lotte Marines to Hiroshima Carp. Off the back of a trip with my wife’s parents to watch Carp in action it seemed like the right thing to do and would give me something to talk to my father-in-law about. Given that I don’t really care too much about Japan’s most popular sport though, it really wasn’t such a big deal!

Having had a look around some of the city centre in the afternoon on the day of the game, I decided to take a bus the relatively short distance east to the rather ridiculously-named Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium. Big mistake! The traffic was terrible, and what should’ve been a 20 minute ride took around an hour! An amateur mistake from yours truly who really should know better after countless trips to Hiroshima over the years!

Missing the start didn’t bother me too much at all as baseball games can be incredibly long. Outside the stadium is a rare sight in Japan. The usual bright blue markings to the side of the Lawson logo are instead red to make them more appealing to Carp fans. This convenience store also has lots of Carp merchandise on sale inside but I just popped in to get some cheaper snacks than are on sale in the stadium.

I was so amazed by this spectacle a few years ago that I even wrote an individual post on just that. All killer and no filler on Tokyo Fox!! Ha!

The match may have been well under-way but I had to still get some pictures of the exterior to mark the occasion, and help make this post more complete such is modern life!

This stadium really is wonderful, and supposedly has an American-ballpark retro-classic feel to it. Hiroshima Carp faced Yokohama DeNA Baystars who were also their opponents on my last visit back in 2015.

My seat was an unreserved one and finding a vacant one was not easy. There were some but Japanese people always put their belongings on the seats next to them which intentionally (maybe unintentionally!) stops others from sitting there. Unless you’re brave enough to ask someone if the seat is taken then you’re gonna find it quite difficult as indeed I did. Eventually, after a fair amount of looking I found one and could settle in and get as comfortable as was possible in the hot and sticky heat.

My initial sights were admittedly more on the beautiful backdrop than the actual baseball field itself thanks to the skyline and wonderful mountains with the Shinkansen (bullet train) regularly running by to the rear of the stadium.

For previous baseball-related posts I’ve often remarked about Hollywood has deceived me with its exciting movies which are full of action whereas in reality it can be quite a slow start-stop type game.

However, this one provided the fans with a stunning 3rd innings which saw six points scored quickly and consecutively. If baseball was more like this then maybe I’d get more into it!

Sadly, the scoring slowed down quite a bit in the subsequent innings’ after that fantastic third one, and with the victory seemingly in the bag, I decided to make an early exit and beat the traffic as I was satisfied with what I had seen.

This match was the first of three successive nights of baseball between Carp and DeNA as is  often the way in baseball. I originally bought a ticket for the second night but as plans changed a few times in relation to my family I decided to book a ticket for the first one too hoping that I could go to at least one. I had to get tickets quickly as I knew they’d sell out,  and at just 2000 yen each it wouldn’t be too much of a loss if I didn’t use one of them. As it was, Carp were thrashed 6-0 on the second night so I definitely got lucky with choosing to go when I did!

Final Score: Yomiuri Giants 10-3 DeNA

For many years I’ve always assumed that the red Lawson outside the stadium was the only one in Japan but further down the road en-route to Hiroshima station I saw another one!

Bonus: Just over a month earlier I went to another baseball match albeit one much closer to home. I’ve wanted to check out the Seibu Dome (known as the Belluna Dome these days) for a few years now so selected one of their Friday night matches. Before switching my allegiance to Hiroshima Carp in 2015 I was a Chiba Lotte Marines “fan” of sorts as they were the first team I ever saw so I decided to join their fans in the away section against Seibu Lions in early July.

Beforehand, I just assumed this dome was very similar to Tokyo Dome so I was quite surprised to see that it wasn’t fully enclosed as there are no outer walls which allows natural air to flow through the field not that there was much of that on this terribly hot and sweaty summer night.

Final Score: Seibu Lions 3-6 Chiba Lotte Marines

Click here to read ‘Jumping On The Baseball Bandwagon In Japan (& Then Jumping Right Off It Again!)’

Click here to read ‘Hiroshima-ken 2015 Pt I: Live Baseball At The Mazda Stadium’

Click here to read ‘A Different Ball Game: My First Time To Watch Japan’s Most Popular Sport!’

Click here to read ‘This Shrine Is A Big Hit With Baseball Fans!’