Seattle Mariners: Breaking Camp and Going to Japan

Today the Mariners will head off to Japan to play a handful of exhibition games against two of Japan's oldest franchises before taking the Oakland Athletics for real next week. 

In a way I'm jealous of the Mariners, but in other ways I'm not. 

Understand I speak from experience, having lived in Tokyo for three years in my first chance to live overseas.  It's an amazing and intense place that is very different from Seattle.  For me it was the opportunity of a lifetime and one can only hope the same for the M's as they travel across the Pacific to start the regular season. 

So what could or should the Mariners expect over the better part of the next week?

The Flight and Jet Lag Can Both Prove Trying

For starters, the flight is long.  About ten hours usually from Sea-Tac to Narita—and by the time you arrive, it's already the next day. 

If you're lucky, you get there late in the afternoon and settle in by first showering, then eating a decent meal, and eventually going to bed after staying awake as long as possible which usually equates to 8 or 9 PM local time. 

What happens next all depends on how your body responds to jet lag. 

Usually, though, I would be up in the middle of the night Tokyo time...thinking it's mid-morning in Seattle.  This can last for a few days if you are unlucky, but for some it may only take a day or so to get up to speed. 

It will be interesting to see on Friday night Seattle time how the players respond playing in Japan Saturday afternoon having been on the ground probably a little less than 48 hours against the Hanshin Tigers at the Tokyo Dome in their first exhibition game.

If anyone is suffering from a headache from either lack of sleep or too much nocturnal fun, the atmosphere at game time will not help ease the pain, especially if you're in the outfield.

The Crowd Experience Is Intense from Beginning to End

Japan is generally known as a reserved culture, but at the ballpark fans are loud from the second they find their seats to the time they leave, especially in the cheap seats situated behind the outfield fence.  The crowd you find there is dedicated to chanting for every player on every pitch.  Fans from both teams come dressed in their respective colors from head to toe and often arrive with horns, drums, and thunder-stix ready to go the full nine innings.  

Back and forth, the two sides chant with the one odd wrinkle that the team hitting gets, the support of their fans chanting instead of quieting down as is common in the States. 

Long story short, it's an endless party in the outfield between the band, the beer and the ballgame.  By comparison, the rest of the crowd is rather tame in the more expensive seats. 

To be fair though, the prices at least for the average game in Japan are rather reasonable compared to tickets in the States.  Parks are generally cozy in Japan and there aren't too many bad seats; however, purchasing a Standing Room ticket at the Tokyo Dome is something I would advise against, as the site lines are poor and it's tough to get a decent spot.

The Tokyo Dome Is Not the Best Place to See a Game in Japan or Anywhere...

Speaking of the Tokyo Dome...I hate to say it, but the place is utterly devoid of character. 

For Japan's equivalent of the New York Yankees, the home of the storied Yomiuri Giants, also known at the "Big Egg," is merely a dome that both inside and outside resembles the Metrodome in Minneapolis. 

The immediate surrounding area offers Tokyo Dome City a multipurpose complex that includes a hotel, mall and an amusement park with a decent rollercoaster, but no great restaurants (unless KFC or McDonalds is your idea of fine dining) or any major cultural and historical sites other than perhaps the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Meanwhile, on the inside, the place is small, to put it politely. 

If the Mariners don't manage to hit at least a homerun or two during their time there, it's a really bad sign for the upcoming season.

Japan Rocks

Beyond that, the experience for the team should be quite a bit of fun.  At the risk of sounding overly generic, Japan is clean, safe and should (as it has on previous occasions) make an excellent host to start to major league season. 

The fans are passionate, knowledgeable, hold the game (especially the fundamentals) in high regard and are a total blast to watch a game with. 

There is an added bonus for the Mariners, given that it's a bit of a homecoming for Ichiro, Hisashi Iwakuma and Munenori Kawasaki.  For once, some of their Mariner teammates will get to see what it feels like to be playing in a foreign country. 

Ichiro's Last Hurrah?

For the man, the myth, the legend...this could be the last time he plays as a MLB player in Japan.

Hard to think of the Mariners not having him around, but it also has to be strange to a group of kids growing up over the past decade in Japan who in large part have only seen Ichiro from afar or as a ubiquitous pitchman.

It's almost impossible to go anywhere in Japan without seeing his face endorsing some product or other, but now is perhaps one last chance to the man himself in action.

In a way it's bittersweet for all parties, but also shows how far we've all come when we openly gripe about someone who only hit .272 with 184 hits being considered as washed up at the age of 38.  

Sometimes I think it's easy to forget how much he's done as a player to change perceptions since his arrival back in 2001 and how truly amazing and rare he is.

Hopefully for him, as well as the Mariners, this trip offers them a chance to enjoy a unique experience and help kick off a successful season as the team transitions into a new era.