Tiger Cheering Meetup

Yeah, for the oendan, you're a long shot and a half. I've tried this before and actually got pretty close. Your best bet is to talk to the leader in the right field stands and make friends with him. If you're only going to be in Japan for a few days, don't get your hopes too high. But if you're going to be here longer, just be incredibly polite to the guy, take him out for drinks, show him a lot of respect, and all that good Japanese stuff.

I personally was told to buy a trumpet, learn to play, and that I would be able to play for the upcoming year, which was a lie that cost me 50,000 yen in the end. The thing is that you not only need permission, you need a license from the NPB. You read that correctly, you need a license to play trumpet. Sound stupid? Get ready for the rules that you have to obey when you become a part of these guys. For my team, it meant no drinking at games (understandable), no conversing with fans from other teams (stupid), wearing a specific shirt at the games and NOWHERE else (they were really stringent about that one for some reason), and absolutely NO going to games at which your specific team was not playing (being a baseball fan, that one convinced me to not be a part of these guys).

The oendan is a great thing, don't get me wrong, but if you want to be part of them, be ready to obey the rules that go along with it.

Note: there is a happy ending here. I also go to soccer games and the oendan there got wind that I can play trumpet and asked me to play at their games. When I asked the leader about rules he said, "Yeah, we have one rule; don't p*ss me off!"

NPB (and clubs too?) stepped in to regulate the oendan because bouryokudan (yakuza-ish) elements have been persistent in NPB oendans. That explains the no drinking, no talking with other team's fans (due to fight instigating in the past), registering with NPB, etc. Soccer doesn't have such "hooligan" problems, ironically. It seems like Japanese media rarely, if ever, report on these oendan troubles, probably because they're connected to bouryokudan, they're hush hush.

- ... no talking with other team's fans (due to fight instigating in the past ...

Yeah, it's understandable. But the thing is that the oendans themselves are very friendly with each other. I regularly get together with guys from other oendans and go out for drinks. I have seen a few fights started with us, but the security was so lousy that they needed 20 "officers" to subdue two rowdy individuals (Koshien).

Basically, this whole problem starts and keeps going at Koshien games. It's just not a good place to go if you're with the visiting team. The fans are uncontrolable, and the security is a joke, which causes this to end up like British soccer of yore.

Koshien used to be a lot more dangerous, especially with the Yakuza cheering clubs permitted. The crazy Tigers fan who will fight anyone has not entirely been eliminated, but is definitely becoming rare. My Tigers oendan drink like fish at the games but never get involved in any fights.

However, the comparison with British soccer of old is not that apt - they were far worse.

- NPB (and clubs too?) stepped in to regulate the oendan because bouryokudan (yakuza-ish) elements have been persistent in NPB oendans.

I heard this too, and also heard that it was a clampdown by the NPB, and not necessarily the clubs themselves.

Until this season, the oendan at Jingu consisted of a big group of blue happi-clad men in the center of the right field stands, complete with numerous flags, including the Japanese hino-maru.

However, when this season started, the old style oendan were nowhere to be seen, and had been replaced by around 5 or so "official" Yakult employed guys with red Yakult uniforms who were scattered around the right field stand.

Apparently, the old oendan had been banned from Jingu as part of the NPB clampdown over unsavoury Yakuza-Oendan connections. I do recognise a few faces from the old bunch who are now employed as official employees, but most of the old guard have gone.

As a side note, this year's new official oendan has brought with is a few changes for the fans in the right field stands. One of which is that fans are no longer allowed to use megaphones to criticise players as apparently this "discusts" the players. Also any booing of the opposition is now more actively discouraged. Both these changes have not gone down too well with the guys I go to the game with, and to be frank, I don't blame them for being annoyed. It's a sports game not a church service. You pay your money and you have a right to say what you like/boo who you like (within reason of course).

DS,

- One of which is that fans are no longer allowed to use megaphones to criticise players as apparently this "discusts" the players. Also any booing of the opposition is now more actively discouraged. Both these changes have not gone down too well with the guys I go to the game with, and to be frank, I don't blame them for being annoyed.

This is one thing they would never try with Tiger's fans. The level of abuse they hurl at players of any team (including their own - Kanemoto's comment when it was revealed that he paid the highest luxury tax on the Tigers, "Great, now the left stand has something else to abuse me about") is enormous. It's part of the Osaka character to be irreverant. Interestingly Ramirez is very popular among Tigers fans.

- The thing is that you not only need permission, you need a license from the NPB.

There is a background to this. Not too long ago, private shisetsu oendan abounded, and they were a lot of fun to an extent. Some of the ones that set up at Koshien every game night came to include a number of unsavoury characters involved in unsavoury incidents. Right around the time it was discovered that the Tigers' player songs had been copyrighted by a member of one of these private groups who also had links to criminal organisations (a CD was released; as they were shared songs, no-one had bothered to copyright them before), and it followed that there was a reorganising of the rules covering oendan. Nowadays, the only oendan allowed to lead the crowds at Koshien is the official one. Incidentally, this is why all but two or three of the Tigers' songs were changed a couple of seasons back; only the ones they could prove weren't written by this guy survived.

As for:

- ...the rules that you have to obey when you become a part of these guys ...

well, go figure.

To be honest, I'm not very surprised by all this. I'd been told that there's a lot of politics in these groups. I expected a bit of resistance, but I'm very persistent. I'm going to be in Osaka for 9 games - my sole reason for visiting is to see the Tigers. It's the series with the Carp, Dragons, and Giants starting next week.

So I guess I'm going to have to go talk to the head guy in the right field stands at the first game. How do I know who the head guy is? I don't remember anyone looking any different than the others.

All the other rules you said would be absolutely no problem. I have no reason to go to any non-Tigers games or talk to any non-Tigers fans.

I'd like to try to get hold of them before I get to the first game, though. Like I said, next Monday the 10th, I'll be there all day with nothing to do.

Where do you think I could start looking for these guys? Do they typically practice somewhere special on off-days? Is there someplace I can be sure to find them? Maybe someplace they like to watch the games that aren't being played on Osaka?

The best people to ask would be Tora Eye (who wear T-shirts with a TRY logo) when you get to the ground. They may provide you with the introductions you need to the musicians group. There are certain izakayas they go to, but I don't know the Osaka ones.

Wow, I had no idea there was so much going on behind the scenes with regards to the oendan. Thanks for an interesting read!

I was once invited to play trumpet in an oendan which had just received "official" status. Apparently all official oendan (as opposed to the unofficial ones) are required to provide their own cheerleaders and trumpet players.

However, although I would have liked to have participated, frankly I want to enjoy myself when I go to a ball game. All the rules and the necessary long term commitments made it seem too much like work. So I declined the offer, and now I'm content to play at my local izakaya once in a while. I give a rendition of Rokko Oroshi before and after the game and whenever the Tigers score, and that's all. All very casual, more relaxing, and much more enjoyable.

Do you have the sheet music for Rokko Oroshi? They said they only give that out to members of the oendan, but I'd like to learn it. Does the izakaya have a common area where you can hang out and meet people, like American bars? From what I've read they seem more like private rooms. Are they difficult to locate?

I've got the sheet music here somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it since we moved last year. I think it might be mixed in with my wife's violin music, but I'd have to rummage a bit I think.

But the music for Rokko Oroshi is readily available. I bought my copy a couple of years ago from a music store in Umeda - in one of the "Dai" buildings, I forgot exactly which one!

The izakaya vary in size - the one I go to is rather small - just one counter. I'm not sure whether I'm free any night during the time you'll be in Osaka, but if you'd like to post your e-mail address (in the spam-safe format) I'll let you know the details of where it is, etc.

That sounds like fun. I'm going to every Tigers game from now until the 20th, but I'm free before and after the games.

Ha! Like a spam-safe format will help. This e-mail address is beyond hope, thank God for spam filters.

vir4030 (at) yahoo (dot) com

I'm pretty comfortable with the Umeda / Dojima underground area, and I'm staying in Dojima.

I just thought I'd post a follow-up with some additional information I found out. Apparently, the Oendan in the right stands of Koshien is based in Kobe and the one in the right alps is based in Osaka. The alps is the section immediately to the right of the right stands, the furthest out down the first base line, between the right stands and the yellow seats. It's gates 1 and 2 and it's its own section completely (doesn't appear you can walk to any other sections).

I've actually met the guys in this Oendan before, although they don't remember me. I saw them last year when I sat in the alps, and I have a picture of all of them at home.

I found some articles that explain that they changed the rules for 2006. Apparently, they were having some problems with Yakuza infiltrating the Oendan and blocking off certain sections requiring payments to sit there. I don't know where this is, but it caused a system-wide change. Now, members of Oendan must submit to a background check to make sure they are not affiliated with the Yakuza before they are permitted to be a member. This permission is granted on a year-to-year basis.

I got tickets to the other games. A friend of mine from Tokyo is coming to Osaka to join me for some games, and he purchased the tickets to the final series. I also found dozens of ticket shops in the Umeda underground area beneath a couple of the buildings. One of the beer girls in Koshien pointed me in the right direction and it was an absolute gold mine. I can't believe how inexpensive the tickets are. The funny thing is that anyone that I asked about finding tickets could have stood up, took a five minute walk, bought some tickets, then sold them to me for double the price they paid and I would have been a happy guy. I just had no clue where to look.

So that's that. The boss of the Osaka Oendan said that the key to joining was communication. The beer girl translated a conversation for us, and he basically told me to keep practicing. I also need to become much better at speaking Japanese. The conclusion I came to is that since this whole background check thing was enabled, they want to make sure they know who you are before they allow you to join. On top of that, I think the Oendan is a lot about a bunch of friends who cheer together and enjoy each others' company. I think they'd like to get to know me much better and develop a friendship before I can join the group. There are tons of Oendan. I met some guys from the Yokohama group outside the ballpark and after the game on the train. There were also some guys from another group in the stadium near the Osaka group. They apparently knew each other pretty well.

Anyways, that's long and rambling, but there's a lot of information. I'm now planning to put extra efforts into my Japanese lessons and try again next year.

The cheering songs were all under copyright, and then the guy who wrote them put out a CD (in 2002, I think), they had to change all the songs. Now they made sure they were all public domain works, or copyright in such a way that they can't have the rug pulled out from under them. So hopefully they won't change again and I have to learn a whole new set.

I'm also posting recaps of each game on the news board, if anyone's interested. I will be here until the 19th and have tickets to every Tigers game. Tonight's the last night against the Carp and then it's a battle against the first-place Dragons in the Osaka Dome. The Tigers are two games out, I believe, so they could take the lead with a sweep. Here's hoping!

- The cheering songs were all under copyright, and then the guy who wrote them put out a CD (in 2002, I think), they had to change all the songs.

Unless I'm mistaken, it wasn't the guy who wrote them that copyrighted them; it was one of the people with gang connections that copyrighted the songs, but because they were written in a team oendan effort for public consumption, no-one had bothered with copyrights or anything like that, so no-one could prove this guy didn't write them.

I could be wrong, but that was the story that did the rounds in the papers (and the bleachers) back then.

I apologize for my error. You were actually the source of my information on that, but I just typed it wrong without checking first.

I keep learning so much about these groups, and the bureaucracy behind them. It's pretty amazing to me.

- You were actually the source of my information on that

Now there's a dangerous proposition if ever there was one! I'm still too chicken to actually make a definitive statement about baseball, so you'll find my posts are usually "XYZ reports that...", "Apparently...", and "It appears to me that...." This has the added benefit of not getting me involved in arguments.

Anyway, good luck with the oendan thing; I suspect there's a lot of fun to be had there.

Just a word on copyright. I'm not sure that you can actually "copyright" anything unless you're the creator of the work. So to be precise, the guy only claimed he owned the copyright and was extorting royalties on that basis. If someone had refused to pay he would basically have to take them to court to enforce his rights, and the burden of proof would be on him to prove that he did in fact write the songs. Nobody would need to prove that he hadn't written them.

If the authorship was unclear then the copyright on the tunes would effectively be in the public domain.

Of course when the yakuza are involved, then things may work a little differently, so it seems that the oendan have just decided to play it safe.

You can claim copyright if the original holder passes the right on to you. Then you need to register yourself as the holder. This only lasts until 100 years (I think) after the death of the originator and after that there is no copyright. This guy claimed the copyright as the originator and was convicted on extortion charges over the claim.

- You can claim copyright if the original holder passes the right on to you.

True, the economic rights can be transferred, but the new copyright holder would still have to prove that he was in fact the holder of the rights in order to enforce them.

- Then you need to register yourself as the holder.

No, registration is not required.

- This only lasts until 100 years (I think) after the death of the originator

It's 50 years.

Registration is useful to avoid needing to prove that you are the holder. But I did think it had been extended to 100 years recently. Likewise, film copyright has now been extended to 70 years.

- Registration is useful to avoid needing to prove that you are the holder.

Yes, useful - but not necessary.

- But I did think it had been extended to 100 years recently.

Film copyright was extended to 70 years in 2003, but we're not talking about film copyright here. My understanding is that this is the only exception to the standard 50 years.

The Copyright Research Information Center has a website [in English] that covers Japanese copyright law if you want to find out more.