Seeing baseball in Tokyo in October?

- And can the scalpers outside Japanese ballparks be trusted?

To my best knowledge scalping is illegal. I suggest reading this thread.

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[Remainder of message restored. Thanks.]

Well, I'm sure others will add their opinins, too, but here's my two yen.

- The Giants are hosting the Carp at the Tokyo Dome on Oct. 5th. I know that Giants tickets are usually hard to get. Might tickets for this game be easier to get since both teams are too low in the standings to make the playoffs?

These are the teams ranked last and second-to-last, so interest is not likely to be as high as usual. True, tickets for Giants games are popular as a matter of course, but you should be able to pick something up.

- The other games around Tokyo that I've been able to find are on Oct 5th and 6th: Yakult Swallows vs. Chunichi Dragons at Jingu Stadium. Will tickets for these games be easier to get?

"Easier," yes, but this is relative, since getting tickets for the Giants vs. Carp game shouldn't be that hard anyway.

- I have read that there are discount ticket outlets in Shinjuku - are they reliable and affordable?

Outlets are reliable, yes. Affordable? Generally they are, but again, the games you're talking about (the Central League ones, anyway) probably won't be in excessive demand, so I don't see that prices will be ratcheted up too high anyway.

- And can the scalpers outside Japanese ballparks be trusted?

I've been ridiculed for saying this on this forum before, but please don't use scalpers. They are working for criminal organisations: your money will be funding yakuza. Please don't.

I went to a Swallows game in August and getting tickets at the stadium was very easy. At the main ticket stand there are employees that help direct customers to the window and go out of their way to help foreigners.

A Helpful Hint: Get the Right Field Granstand (General Admission) seats. There is a ticket booth on the backside of the stadium that sells the General Admission tickets. Seats are 1,500 yen and it was the highlight of my trip to sit in the "cheering" section. Make sure you wear blue to the game.

I also went to the Egg Dome to see the Falcons play a football game. The Dome is much nicer than Jingu, but I feel Jingu offers the better yakyu experience.

Here is my question for Swallows fans: What is the significance of the umbrellas whenever the Swallows score a run?

Thanks in advance for the replies.

- Here is my question for Swallows fans: What is the significance of the umbrellas whenever the Swallows score a run?

This thread might help.

Thank you all for your replies. Seeing baseball in Japan sounds like it's going to be a great time.

With my neighbor translating we were able to set up an eplus account, and got to the point where we could order tickets. But there were some issues. One is that the site does not tell you the exact seat numbers before you confirm your order - all they would show is the ticket class (B or C) and the side of the field (first base or third base). Is that normal, that you don't know your seat number until you get the tickets? When I've ordered tickets on-line here using Ticketmaster, they show you the exact seat numbers before you confirm the order. It wouldn't be a big problem except that the limit is 4 tickets per order, but we need 6 tickets, and we'd really like them to be together. I'm assuming that the ticket counter at the ballpark will be able to put 6 together, assuming they have them.

Another issue was that my neighbor (not a baseball fan) translated "tickets are exchanged at the location," which we took to to mean that the tickets would be held at a will-call window for us to pick up. Does that sound right? That hasn't been the case for me here in Chicago - here, Ticketmaster mails them to you.

One final question in picking seats: are the Giants' and the Swallows' home dugouts on the first-base side? We'd prefer to cheer for the home team.

And I did not know all the scalpers in Japan were run by the yakuza. Here in Chicago, that is not the case. Scalping is illegal here, too, but the law isn't strictly enforced. The scalpers here cannot always be trusted, and there have been cases of counterfeit tickets.

Thanks again,
Kevin Anderson
Chicago, USA
kgander at pobox d0t com

Torakichi-san: Thanks for the thread on the Umbrella dance.

Kevin: I can only reiterate from my experience that you should have no trouble in purchasing tickets at the Box Office for (at least) the Swallows and, as others have said, for the Giants when you go to Tokyo next week. Both teams have their dugouts on the first base side of the field.

If I can add a puroresu comment: There is a (professional) wrestling mega-card at the Yoyogi Gymnasium while you are in Tokyo. Old time American wrestlers like Abdullah the Butcher, Dory Funk, and Kamala will be on the card as well as a number of top-line current Japanese wrestlers. I was almost ready to head back to Tokyo to attend this event! You can get more details at the Dory-Funk web site if you are interested.

Have fun on your trip. Tokyo is a great place to visit (even if the streets have no names!).