Japan Baseball Tour Itinerary

DETAILED ITINERARY

WEDNESDAY - September 7, 2011

Main Tour leaves Home

Main Tour begins as you board your plane bound for Tokyo. During the flight you cross the International Dateline and go ahead one day, getting that day back on your return flight home.

THURSDAY - September 8, 2011

Main Tour arrives in Tokyo. Overnight in Tokyo.

Upon your arrival we greet you as you exit customs. We board an express train for the brief trip into downtown Tokyo and our JapanBall headquarters hotel.

Many of you arrive in plenty time to wander around the Ochanomizu area of our hotel before our evening gathering at the world famous JapanBall Hall of Fame.

The Kanda River along with main rail and subway lines run through Ochanomizu, the area of our well-located Tokyo hotel.

FRIDAY - September 9, 2011

Tokyo Yomiuri Giants (vs Hiroshima Carp)

Tokyo Dome - 6:00 PM

Overnight in Tokyo

We begin our exploration of Tokyo this morning. The sheer level of energy is a striking aspect of Japan's capital city. Close to soaring buildings are pockets of another Tokyo - an old wooden house, a Japanese inn, a kimono-clad woman sweeping outside her home with a straw broom.

This evening we visit the raucous Tokyo Dome to see the Tokyo Giants, Japan's favorite team. Located just blocks away from our hotel, the team operates a shopping mall, restaurant center and amusement park outside the dome.

The Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame is on the outside perimeter of the building along with a terrific souvenir store adjacent. There's a spectacular “you gotta see it to believe it” eight-story off-track horse racing parlor on the grounds nearby.

As for the Hall of Fame, it's a long way from the charm of Cooperstown, but for the price of a hamburger, it may be worth a look. Team uniforms, pictures, cards and other memorabilia fill a long procession of glass cases, while one room contains member plaques.

On the outside premises is the Baseball Cafe that boasts a huge caricature statue of Tommy Lasorda that greets you as you enter. It's sort of a baseball Hard Rock Cafe and, while they don't serve Dodger Dogs, you can order burgers and other typical American fare at reasonable prices.

Partial view of Tokyo Dome City with its Tokyo Dome on left and amusement park roller coaster on right.

SATURDAY - September 10, 2011

Rakuten Golden Eagles (vs Nippon Ham Fighters)

Kleenex Miyagi Stadium - 2:00 PM

Overnight in Sendai

This morning we visit Tokyo Station and board the Komachi Shinkansen bullet train bound for Sendai to see Japan's newest team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Kleenex Miyagi Stadium is simply a delight with loads of life about it and it's a proven JapanBall favorite.

The Eagles boast a full menu of seating options from lawn seats to opulent luxury boxes to right-on-top-of-the-action infield seats, and we never fail to get terrific seats. It’s a small, intimate ballpark seating about 23,000.

Like many Japanese parks, the bullpens are set under the stands out of view of the seating bowl. Here, however, windows open in the outer concourse area to allow fans to wander by and watch pitchers warm up.

In an interesting twist, concession stands are located both inside and outside the stadium. The Eagles make great use of the space outside as people spaces. A wonderful, yet simple, concept that allows you to use their entire grounds for your baseball outing.

Tonight is free in Sendai with our hotel right downtown and perfect for exploring. I like the downtown area because it's not so large and you can quickly get your arms around it.

Kleenex Miyagi Stadium, the most colorful and fan-friendly ballpark in Japan.

SUNDAY - September 11, 2011

Chunichi Dragons (vs Yokohama BayStars)

Nagoya Dome - 3:00 PM

Overnight in Kyoto

This morning we leave Sendai to head back to Tokyo Station, change trains, and on to Nagoya for our game with the Chunichi Dragons at the Nagoya Dome.

The Dragons are owned by the local newspaper and they put on a good show as one of the more hip ballclubs in Japan. They keep their park sparkling and make it come alive for their fans.

What distinguishes the Nagoya Dome from other domes is its vibrant interior colors and ceiling tiles that open to allow in sunlight. A shopping mall is adjacent and fun to visit for snacks and other items before the game.

Nagoya, Japan's fourth largest city, developed as a castle town housing one of the branches of the ruling Tokugawa family. It grew to house heavy manufacturing and is the longtime home to Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyota. Because of such heavy manufacturing it was a prime target in the air raids of 1945. The city was rebuilt with a large grid pattern of spacious boulevards and avenues.

After the game we retrieve our luggage from the train station and make the short train trip on to our hotel in Kyoto, the Center of Old Japan.

The Dragons always draw well to their Nagoya Dome home.

MONDAY - September 12, 2011

Baseball Off-Day. Kyoto Sightseeing.

Overnight in Kyoto

Baseball in Japan shuts down today and we use the off-day for getting to know Kyoto, a city brimming with World Heritage Sites.

If you could visit but one place in Japan this is it for its beauty, stunning architecture, and citizens who still wear traditional dress. Today we visit some of Kyoto’s treasured castles, temples and gardens.

Kyoto is great to survey on foot so that its sights, sounds, smells and textures can be savored. And you don’t need to walk far to do it. Cool green garden moss, the echo of a temple bell, the caress of silk, and the aroma of soy, sugar and sake, all experienced on a short walk, convey this ancient culture in a personalized manner to each visitor. The city's sights and charms are tightly woven together in this ideal setting.

This evening we offer an optional group dinner at a time-honored Japanese restaurant with a pre-meal stroll through the quaint back alleys of the Gion District, the setting of the best-selling novel and Steven Spielberg film, Memoirs of a Geisha.

Kinkaku-ji, the Gold Pavilion, a Zen temple whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. One of the World Heritage Sites we visit in Kyoto.

TUESDAY - September 13, 2011

Hanshin Tigers (vs Chunichi Dragons)

Koshien Stadium - 6:00 PM

Overnight in Kyoto

After more exploring in Kyoto we gather to make a short train hop over to Osaka for tonight's game with the Hanshin Tigers.

The Tigers play in Koshien Stadium. Built in 1924 it's Japan's oldest, most traditional and most revered ballpark. Taking it a bit far, some call it Sacred Koshien Stadium. But it is indeed the only stadium with a shrine just outside where offerings are made for the home team!

Originally built for the national high school baseball tournament, Koshien is still used for that purpose. It seats 55,000, has a grass outfield, a dirt infield and ivy covered walls. A classic ballpark that in 1934 hosted Babe Ruth and other MLB All-Stars touring Japan.

Koshien Stadium is Japan's Fenway Park and, as such, the seats and aisles are narrow, there are no private boxes, and the amenities are basic. While renovation is ongoing, the character of the park remains, along with the most exuberant and colorful fans anywhere in Japan.

Tigers faithful at Koshien Stadium.

WEDNESDAY - September 14, 2011

Yokohama BayStars (vs Yomiuri Giants)

Yokohama Stadium - 6:00 PM

Overnight in Tokyo

From Old Japan in Kyoto we head back to New Japan in Tokyo to take in our game tonight at the nearby port city of Yokohama.

With Yokohama Stadium as their home since 1978, the BayStars play in one of the best locations in Japan, a few blocks from a bustling Chinatown and pedestrian waterfront.

The ballpark is set in the midst of a municipal park that's conveniently located just a long fly ball from the train station, with plenty to see and do within walking distance in almost every direction from the stadium.

Yokohama Stadium has undergone a recent facelift with lots of bright colors and upgraded concession stands. The new high outfield wall cuts down the number of home runs, but the upgraded seating configuration puts fans right on top of the action.

It's in this park where two-time JapanBall trip participant Martin Smith remarked, "I love this country. Every time I wave to a cute girl I end up with a beer in my hand!"

One of the ubiquitous beer girls at Japanese games.

THURSDAY - September 15, 2011

Main Tour to Tokyo Narita Airport to Home

Main Tour goes to Tokyo Airport for flights out of Japan. You arrive home the same date, getting back the day you lost when crossing the International Dateline on your flight over.

THURSDAY - September 15, 2011

Disney Option to Tokyo Disney

Overnight in Tokyo

Disney Option goes to East Tokyo to the Tokyo Disney Resort. There you have your choice of visiting one of the two parks on the grounds: Disneyland or Disney Sea.

We offer this option because so many guests have asked for it. Those who go are struck by how the Japanese have taken something so uniquely American and put their own twist on it in a way that Western visitors seem to enjoy.

Tokyo Disneyland was the first Disney park outside the United States. Opened in 1983, it was built by Walt Disney Imagineering and is owned by The Oriental Land Company. It, along with its companion park, Tokyo Disney Sea, are the only Disney parks not owned by The Walt Disney Company.

Tokyo DisneySea has quickly become one of the most popular Disney Parks in the world. It's also the most expensive theme park ever built at over $4 billion. It's the clear JapanBall winner between the two parks.

The intention with DisneySea was to create a more adult-oriented park, including faster, scarier rides and shows designed for an older audience. Those not interested in rides will find plenty to do with all the sights and exhibits available. By the time Tokyo DisneySea opened in 2001, its concepts and designs had been in development at Disney Imagineering for well over 20 years.

Here's a partial view of the expansive Tokyo DisneySea. Note Pacific Ocean in the upper left corner.

THURSDAY - September 15, 2011

Hiroshima Carp (vs Yakult Swallows)

Mazda Hiroshima Stadium - 6:00 PM

Overnight in Hiroshima

From Tokyo Station you take the Hikari Super Express bullet train to Hiroshima for a game at Japan's newest stadium, Mazda Hiroshima Stadium. The ballpark is a short walk from your hotel.

Wayne Graczyk, our JapanBall colleague and columnist for The Japan Times wrote, "This new facility is one of the best ballparks in Japan, or anywhere else, for that matter." JapanBall guests seem to agree with that assessment.

Located alongside Japan Railway tracks near Hiroshima Station, the park has seating for 30,000 with an asymmetrical playing field, a rarity in Japan. It has huge concourses for strolling, a seemingly infinite variety of food choices, and so many nooks and crannies that you can easily spend a good deal of time simply exploring.

We recommend that before the game you stop by the old Hiroshima ballpark where, just across the street, is the A-Bomb Dome, Peace Park and A-Bomb Museum located at ground-zero of the first atomic bomb drop. The museum is first-rate and reasonably even-handed given its location and topic.

Mazda Hiroshima Stadium, opened in 2009, is the newest park in Japan.

FRIDAY - September 16, 2011

Disney Option to Tokyo Airport to Home

Disney Option goes to Tokyo Airport for flights out of Japan. You arrive home the same date, getting back the day you lost when crossing the International Dateline on your flight over.

FRIDAY - September 16, 2011

Softbank Hawks (vs Nippon Ham Fighters)

Fukuoka Yahoo Dome - 6:00 PM

Overnight in Fukuoka

Today's travel takes you to the southernmost point on your journey, to the seaside town of Fukuoka on Kyushu Island for your game with the SoftBank Hawks.

Playing in the Fukuoka Yahoo Dome, a relatively new ballpark modeled after Toronto's SkyDome, the Hawks have a loyal following and have occasionally rivaled the Tokyo Giants for the attendance lead.

The Fukuoka Dome, set just across the street from a beach on the Sea of Japan, offers Japan's only opening lid, so it may well be open for your visit.

The area surrounding the stadium is called Hawk's Town and features a stunning array of restaurants, shopping and amusement activities to enjoy before and after the game.

Sadaharu Oh, former pilot of the Hawks who holds the home run record in Japanese baseball at 868, visits with JapanBallers during batting practice in Fukuoka.

SATURDAY - September 17, 2011

Tokyo Yakult Swallows (vs Hiroshima Carp)

Jingu Stadium - 6:00 PM

Overnight in Tokyo

This morning you make the journey back from Fukuoka to Tokyo. Our JapanBall Tokyo hotel headquarters awaits where you can rest and unwind before your game this evening with the Swallows in Central Tokyo.

The Swallow's Jingu Stadium is set in the Meiji Shrine's Outer Garden and many find this unpretentious gem to be the best place in Tokyo to see a game.

Opened in 1926, Jingu Stadium is Tokyo's oldest ballpark. The old brickwork evokes images of Ebbets Field and other parks of the past. This is a place you can go, close your eyes, and imagine how baseball was years ago.

Some say the Jingu scoreboard is the finest in Japan, if for no other reason than it alone posts each player's batting average and home run total for the duration of every game. It gives you what's important without relying on a lot of technological gimmicks - part of the quiet appeal of Jingu.

The ballpark is in the center of a national sports complex that contains a rugby field, soccer stadium and tennis courts.

Jingu Stadium, an old-time park set in ultra-modern downtown Tokyo.

SUNDAY - September 18, 2011

Chiba Lotte Marines (vs Orix Buffaloes)

QVC Stadium - 1:00 PM

Overnight in Tokyo

This morning you make the journey back from Fukuoka to Tokyo. Our JapanBall Tokyo hotel headquarters awaits where you can rest and unwind before your game this evening with the Chiba Lotte Marines in East Tokyo.

The Marines play in QVC Stadium in Makuhari City, one of the largest urban development projects in Japan, located halfway between downtown Tokyo and Narita Airport. There's a huge convention center, new high-tech buildings, luxury class hotels and the ballpark.

The ballpark is a round multi-purpose affair like those of Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh of the '70's. They've done nice upgrades to the park including a wonderful museum outside the stadium with a gift shop and studio where guests can pose and take photos in replicas of the locker room, bullpen, outfield and more.

The Marines, by the way, are Japan's reigning champs, having won The Japan Series for 2010.

A panoramic shot of QVC Stadium. The Pacific Ocean is just over the outfield wall.

MONDAY - September 19, 2011

Orix Buffaloes (vs Fukuoka Hawks)

Hotto Motto Stadium - 6:00 PM

Overnight in Osaka

Today you head back down the main island of Honshu to your hotel in Osaka. From there you'll make the quick trip to nearby Kobe for tonight's game with the Buffaloes.

Today's Buffaloes are the result of the relatively recent merger of two ballclubs: The Orix Blue Wave of Kobe and the Kintetsu Buffaloes of nearby Osaka. The clubs merged to become the Orix Buffaloes. This then left a gap of one team in the Pacific League that was immediately filled with an expansion club, the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Sendai.

The Buffaloes now split their home games between Kobe and Osaka. In Osaka they play in the Osaka Dome, while in Kobe they play in the outdoor Hotto Motto Stadium, the ballpark in which Ichiro Suzuki played before leaving Japan to join the Seattle Mariners.

The ballpark, with naming rights held by discount Hotto Motto Airlines, is an intimate affair seating about 30,000. It was the first stadium in Japan to sell naming rights, having done so in 2003.

Interestingly enough, the Hanshin Tigers also use Hotto Motto from time to time when their Koshien Stadium becomes the site of the national summer high school baseball tournament, testimony to the broad popularity of the game in Japan.

A view from our seats at Hotto Motto Stadium in Kobe.

TUESDAY - September 20, 2011

Nippon Ham Fighters (vs Seibu Lions)

Sapporo Dome - 6:00 PM

Overnight in Sapporo

This morning you fly from Osaka to the northernmost point of your adventure, the city of Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido.

Upon arrival at New Chitose Airport in Sapporo you take a quick express train into town, check into your hotel, with a bit of time free before tonight's game.

Sapporo is a much smaller town compared to the cities in which you've been so far. You can get the feel for it quickly, the pace is laid back, and it's far enough away from the mainland that few foreign tourists venture here.

The nickname of the Nippon Ham Fighters is Fighters, not Ham Fighters. Nippon Ham is the owner of the team. As a New York Times article notes, "It's simply a bit of misfortune that the organization's full name suggests lunch-meat gladiators."

The Sapporo Dome is remarkable in that it features the ability to move a soccer field in and the baseball field out on rollers. From the dome’s 160-foot high observation deck, one can see not only the layout of Sapporo, but Ishikari Bay as well.

A nice touch is the wide concourse unobstructed by gates or guards allowing you to circle the stadium while stopping here and there to take in the game from different vantage points.

You can get to the ballpark by subway, a subway station being just a few blocks from the hotel.

During your visit to the Sapporo Dome will you see the Fighters' Yu Darvish pitch? Is Darvish really Dice-K 2.0 - the next Daisuke Matsuzaka?

WEDNESDAY - September 21, 2011

Seibu Lions (vs Rakuten Golden Eagles)

Seibu Dome - 6:00 PM

Overnight in Tokyo

You leave your Sapporo hotel to take the express train back to the airport for your flight to Haneda Airport in downtown Tokyo. Your Tokyo hotel will await where you can rest and unwind before your final game this evening with the Seibu Lions in West Tokyo.

Unlike other Japanese dome stadiums, the Seibu Dome is not really a dome. It was an outdoor ballpark until Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, owner of the Lions, decided to put an umbrella over it. With its open air sides it gives the partial feel of an outdoor park.

Slightly smaller than most stadiums and because of the breeze that can blow through to the outfield, the Seibu Dome tends to see more home runs than any other Pacific League park. Concession stands and restrooms surround the tree-lined rim of the stadium.

A pre-game sunset at the Seibu Dome in West Tokyo.

THURSDAY - September 22, 2011

See It All Option to Tokyo Airport to Home

Today you return to the airport for your flight out of Japan. You arrive home the same date, getting back the day you lost when crossing the International Dateline on your trip over.

* BECOME A MEMBER OF THE HALL OF FAME!

The JapanBall Hall of Fame Induction Committee has established the following criteria for admission:

1. The combination and successful completion of the See It All Option with the Main Tour in any one season, or

2. Successful completion of the Main Tour on three separate occasions over any number of seasons.

Should you complete either of the above you will have earned your rightful place in the JapanBall Hall of Fame with all the rights and privileges thereof.

Your official member plaque will be forever enshrined in the JapanBall Hall of Fame located in Roje's Restaurant in Tokyo, Japan. A duplicate plaque will be presented to you.

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