One Night in Tokyo, Want to see a Game May 12

Times for regular season games have not yet been published. (Note to pre-season fans: the times for pre-season games were in today's newspaper. I'll try to enter them all tonight.) However, May 12th is a weekday, and not a holiday, so it will be a night game. That's pretty much how it works.

Tokorozawa (home of the Seibu Lions) is way out of the way. It's located far away from everything.

The Nippon Ham Fighters moved to Hokkaido - the northern most island.

That leaves:

• the Swallows hosting the Fighters at Jingu - a place with atmosphere, easilly available same-day tickets, and excellent transportation;


• the Giants hosting the Buffaloes at Tokyo Dome - the first domed baseball stadium built in Japan, tickets available if you get there early and wait in line, and excellent transportation;


• and the Marines hosting the Tigers at Chiba Marine Stadium - incredibly friendly and knowledgable fan base for atmosphere, usually easy to get tickets, but I'm not sure with the Tigers in town, and good transporation if you stay in Chiba instead of go to Tokyo (the airport is in Chiba).

I'm not sure about hotel costs. That's something you'll need to do research on your own for. There are both busses and trains that go to/from the airport to most major destinations. If there's a bus that will take you directly to your hotel, use it - especially if your hotel is in Shinjuku or other downtown Tokyo location. Both Tokyo stadiums are on the JR Sobu Line, so try to find a place with easy access to it. Chiba Marine Stadium is in Makuhari Messa, accross from a convention center, so I would think they've got some accomidations available in this odd city of office buildings.

If you want to have your senses overwhelmed and are adventurous, I'd recommend staying in Shinjuku and adventuring to Jingu. (Shinjuku Station has got to be a confusing mass of lights and people to somebody who's never set foot in Japan. Yet I know that most U.S. friends stay there when they come to Japan on business.) If you'd like a more relaxed day then an exciting game, I'd recommend Chiba.

The advice given by Westbaystars sounds excellent to me. I'll offer my own advice, based on my own limited experience in Japan.

I spent 9 days in Japan in 1997. I saw 2 games at the Tokyo Dome, one of which featured the Giants. The Giants are very popular there and I stood in line for several hours just to get 1 ticket. Even after getting in, there was no place to sit and I had to stand the entire game. So this does not sound like what you're looking for. Another nice thing, though, about seeing a game at the Tokyo Dome is that the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame is right at the stadium and is well worth a visit.

I never went to Jingu Stadium, so I can't comment on that. If I were in your shoes, I'd go for a game at Chiba, though I never went there either. This is the closest stadium to the airport. The tickets I got for the Tokyo Dome were moderate, about $20-$25 or so.

I don't know about the hotels in Chiba, but there seemed to be a lot of moderately priced hotels (about $100/night or less) in Tokyo. The hotels that are listed as "business-class" hotels I found to be fine for Westerners.

When I was there, there were at least a couple of train lines that could take you from Narita to the Tokyo vicinity for a moderate price (I think I paid about $50 (round trip) to go from Narita to Tokyo, which is about an hour away). There are information booths at the airport where you can find out exactly which lines to take to get to wherever you want to go. However, I'd try to find out as much as I could about this ahead of time.

I would try to contact the Tokyo Visitor's Information Office (or whatever it's called) and ask them to send you some maps of the train routes and some city road maps. You may be able to find this office on the Internet, but I'm sure the Japanese Embassy or even a Japanese travel agency also could tell you how to contact it. You probably also could easily purchase your baseball ticket in advance, if you wanted to.

I wouldn't worry at all about not speaking Japanese. I don't either. Just about everyone you'll come in contact with as a tourist will be able to communicate well enough with you to make the transactions you'll want to make. I found the Japanese to be generally friendly and often would go out of their way to help you if you asked. And crime there is very low, so I wouldn't worry about that either.

Hope this helps. Enjoy the game!

Thanks for the good advice. I have made my plane reservations already, landing at Narita on May 12 at 3:00pm, leaving next day at 2:00pm.

I am leaning towards the game at Chiba, as it is not too far from the airport (found a site that says there is a bus from Narita to the convention center that takes 30 minutes). I'm sure I can find a place to stay around there, I do not need much.

Anyone who wants to join me, feel free to e-mail me at ks_8999 AT yahoo DOT com.

I'll search elsewhere for hints on nightlife in Chiba to partake in after the game.

Just be careful. The Chiba Lotte Marines are playing the Hanshin Tigers that night and this is relevant because it has never happened before. This is the first season for inter-league play in Japan, and the Tigers of the Central League and the Marines of the Pacific League have never had regular season games before. I'm just warning you because the Tigers, along with the Giants, have a huge fan base in Japan that transends their geographic home, (the Tigers play between Osaka and Kobe). There are likely many Tiger fans who live in Chiba and East Tokyo who may gobble up the tickets early for this one. I think Jingu is the safest bet.

I will be landing Narita this Thursday around 3pm, and I will make my way to see the game that night in Chiba. The post above references inter-league play maybe affecting availability of tickets. Any insight on this?

Anyone want to join me for the game? I'll buy the first round. I can be reached at e-mail at ks_8999 followed by @yahoo.com.

No hotel arrangements on Thursday night, I'll just wing it I think. I fly out Friday at noon.