Japanese Carp

Date: August 19, 2010

On a more uplifting Hiroshima note, we found our new favorite baseball team there: the Hiroshima Carp! Here's how.

Soon after rolling into town and exiting the train station, we noticed the city was a buzz with Carp fever - hawkers (that word is RARE in Japan) were peddling Carp t-shirts, Carp hats, Carp noise-makers, and even CDs containing Carp cheers. We both thought: if there is a game, we must go. Who names a team the Carp? So, we confirmed there was indeed a game and walked to Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium (Mazda has a 7km long assembly line in Hiroshima…that’s long…the longest in the world) and bought the cheapest tickets available.

Before entering I learned that patrons are allowed to bring their own beer into the stadium, as long as it’s transferred into the red and white-striped ‘official stadium cup’, so I ran to the nearest convenience store and bought two of the biggest beers I could find. BYOB! As far as the game, the Carp got whooped by the Tokyo Swallows...yes, real name too...but we didn’t care – it was unlike any other baseball game we had been too and well worth the price of admission. Organized cheers (by fans), a marching band, sushi (instead of hot dogs), dried fish bites (instead of nachos), and of course, sake.


Very bizzarre-o, very Japanese. “Carp-u, Carp-u…” That’s all I can remember from the cheer. And you have to love the Japanese high leg kick delivery.




Go Carp!