Trip Overview - A Brief Description

"Just a note to let you know we made it home in one piece. Well, actually, more than one piece since we took a large bit of Japan home with us in our hearts."  --- Tom and Maria R.

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Japanese baseball is as much a reflection of that country's culture as American baseball is for the United States.

With our Japan Baseball Adventure you get an inside, in-depth view of Japanese baseball....and Japan.  We'll cover a lot of ground and through your travels you'll get an understanding of not only Japanese baseball, but Japan. 

As Robert Whiting notes in his delightful book on the Japanese game, “Ya Gotta Have Wa,” there are extraordinary things about their national sport: Bands that play Beethoven during opening day ceremonies; commentators who cite a player's blood type in the belief it affects performance; colorful balloon releases during the seventh inning stretch; and umpires who practice their calls in pre-game warm-ups. 

Perhaps most unusual is the Japanese fan himself, who'll sit quietly through a game foregoing the loud and vulgar conduct sometimes on display in U.S. parks.  

But take that Japanese fan and put him in one of the organized cheering groups (oendan) that are in the outfield bleachers and he quickly sheds his restraint.  Spurred on by energetic cheerleaders and the pounding rhythm of taiko drums, horns, whistles and other noisemakers, he becomes a wild man, yelling and screaming the entire game.

A television producer once remarked after spending nine innings in the midst of an oendan of several thousand, “These people are lunatics! There's more noise here than a World Series and Army-Navy game combined.”  

You needn't worry though, our seats are infield chairs well away from all that craziness, but you're certainly welcome to visit in the outfield if you so desire!

Japan is a fascinating blend of 21st century modernity and centuries old traditions: pagodas glitter amidst a forest of glass towers; city life is muted by the tinkling of temple bells; and as a farmer hand-plants his rice crop a bullet train flashes by.  

And baseball, well, Japanese pro ball is something akin to an over-the-top, big time college football game. It's simply to be experienced. The baseball is fun, the country clean, neat and effervescent, and the people most gracious. 

Not only do we show you a broad array of baseball but you will, in a real sense, see all of Japan as we visit many places throughout the country to give you an in-depth experience of the country that you'll truly never forget.  

And getting to our destinations is simply a marvel.  We use everything from the sleek, high-speed Shinkansen bullet trains that rocket down the tracks, to the white-gloved taxi drivers in their spotless late-model cars with doors that automatically open to let us in, to the convenient, gleaming subways. 

Some of our guests have noted that the speed and ease of moving around Japan may itself be worth the visit.

Our tour is fully escorted.  I'll  be with you the whole way, along with my partner, Mayumi, who is a native Japanese.  We'll meet you when you arrive and see you off as you depart Japan. But we are never so close as to encroach on your personal experience of the Japanese game and Japan.