Take me out to the ball park....

To compound my World Cup/ Wimbledon sporting month, this July 4th we helped our American friends celebrate their escape from us Brits by heading out to cheer on the Carp at the new Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium, pride of the Hiroshima Carp.

I'm hardly a baseball fan, although I do know the rules, due to the fact that I seem to be some kind of baseball good luck charm. There is an All Japan High School Baseball Tournament held at Koshien in Kobe every year, and it is a HUGE national event. Boys will choose to study at high schools far away form home, if the school's baseball rep is good, just on the chance that they might get to play at Koshien. The first high school I taught at in Miyazaki went to Koshien 2 years running to represent the prefecture. When I left and moved to another town in MIyazaki, THAT school went to Koshien that year. Then I moved again, and didn't teach high school, but the team from the high school in the town I worked in went to Koshien that year. I'm sure if I let this be known, I could command a high salary from many schools in Japan, regardless of my qualifications. Now, I teach at a girls school, with no baseball team, so I can't do much for them...

Having said that, every time I've been to see the Carp at the old stadium, they've lost, so I was stoked that they managed a 4-2 win on Sunday.

The new stadium is very impressive, almost like I imagine an American one would be.
I can imagine a few Hiroshima residents look back on the old one with nostalgia though, for it's very Japaneseness. Food was Japanese, yakisoba, bentos, yatai style, sold from shabby wagons in the shabby passageways, in a Japanese style you can't quite explain in words, and while I could never eat any of it with my allergies, it is weirdly sad when you see the could-be-anywhere-in-the-world brand spanking new clean and impressive concessions selling American style fast food instead.

I hope the Japanese get their independence from the US some day soon too.
Not because there's anything wrong with America ( although I could come up with a few things if I really tried-haha!), just because it's sad and somehow less interesting when we all become the same.