After spending several weeks together, Adam had to return to work for a week, so Megan, Abigail and I were to spend some time on our own. Our time was spent visiting the BX where we shopped for various daily items, the Commissary where Megan purchased the food for their meals, and other small shops where I was able to pick up really cool stuff for souvenirs to ship home. For some reason I found it oddly amusing to turn over the Rice Bowls that I was looking at sending home and see them marked with "Made in Japan" on the bottom. I mean, what did I expect it to say, "Made in Cleveland"? Anyway our time was well spent and I picked up what seemed like "boat-loads" of stuff to package up and mail. Fortunately Adam and Megan are both experts at packing items for shipping as the Airforce has shipped them all over the world...or should I say "flew" them all over the world. I purchased more than enough to ship home, but found, even later, that I just "had" to have that large hand-painted Japanese fan that I saw in one shop, and that Woody Pride "Toy Story" doll from Pixar/Disney that spoke Japanese when you pulled his string. Adam shipped these to me at home after I had returned, Woody to be a Christmas gift for David because even at sixteen-years old, he still loves Woody. The sad part for me was that he was turning sixteen while I was in Japan on my trip and he was still in Washington State. Every day was a struggle for David as he had severe separation anxiety. A Down Syndrome teenager is a joy, but a Down Syndrome teenager with severe separation anxiety is a heart-rending thing. Some days he would wail from the time he awoke until he would fall asleep at night. Fortunately we each had our computers, so that we were able to teleconference daily, which helped to a degree, but it was still tough on all of us. Fortunately David was tasked with helping Mom while I was gone, as I figured that giving him the important responsibility of watching over Mom would give him a purpose that would distract him from missing me quite so much. He did so admirably. I told David that we would celebrate his birthday again when I got home, and that I would take him wherever he would like to go for dinner...He told me that he wanted Japanese food.
Finally the day arrived for three of us to attend the ballgame at the Tokyo Dome. Megan had just started evening college classes, so it was going to be Adam, Abigail and myself. It was an evening game during the workweek, so I eagerly anticipated Adam's arrival home from work as we had an hour and a half's train ride to Tokyo. The expected time for Adam to show up came and went. And went. And went. When he finally arrived he was none too happy, as a superior officer called them in to an unexpected meeting, and proceeded to talk in excess of their time to be leaving. Being the good Tech Sergeant that he is, he didn't complain, and just waited it out. Megan dropped the three of us off at the train station and we headed to Tokyo. It wasn't too crowded, perhaps because we were leaving just before the game was scheduled to begin.
The train finally stopped at the Tokyo Dome and I realized that this was a better station location than the last time we were at the Dome. I wouldn't have to cross the intersection where I had landed on my face dead center in the street! Going into the Dome was pretty easy since everyone else was already seated and the game was in play. We were going to watch the Yomiuri Giants (our team) versus the Chunichi Dragons.
It was an amazing sight. I was overwhelmed by the capacity crowd, and the volume of the singing and chanting that was going on. It felt like we had walked into the World Series! There was not an empty seat in the stadium (except for ours, fortunately), and the singing and chanting never ceased. I made the observation that the fans were divided up so that the one side of the stadium were fans rooting for the Giants, and the other half of the stadium was filled with the fans of the Dragons. People sang, chanted and played instruments when their team was at bat. The other half of the stadium would be respectfully quiet. There was no booing or jeers. When the other team was up, the situation reversed.
The venders that wandered the stadium were attractive young women with their drink dispensers mounted in backpacks on their backs. They didn't shout out to the fans to advertise what they were selling, they remained silent, and walked to the bottom of the stands where they stopped. Stood facing the crowd. Looked at everyone, smiling, and then bowed respectfully. Then they proceeded quietly up through the stands watching for someone to motion them over. When they reached the top of the stands, they walked to the bottom and started over.
Adam advised me that when one of the players would cross home plate, that they would be handed a stuffed animal. From where I was sitting and the large crowd, I was never able to observe this, but I know that Adam and Megan had seen this in the past, so I take their word for it.
There were many mascots running around on the field. I am not sure what they were supposed to be, but there appeared to be male and female mascots...I think. Also on the field were cheerleaders. Just like in professional football. Which begs the question: why doesn't American Baseball have cheerleaders? We have mascots, why not cheerleaders?
It was a fine game, and the Giants won. The star of the game was an American. An American whose birthday was that very day. He had just turned forty! Sadly I don't know his name, but it seemed to be quite a big deal with a televised show with the mascots and cheerleaders running around the field.
As we were making our way through the crowd to leave the Dome, Adam told me "watch out for the wind". "The wind?" That didn't make any sense to me, but he said that it was because of the difference in the air pressure between inside the Dome and outside the Dome. Yeah. Okay. At every exit there was a man with a bullhorn saying something in Japanese. I finally got to the revolving door and discovered what he was talking about. I was sucked out the door and was barely able to stand upright. I had been in sixty mile an hour winds before, but they were nothing like this. Adam had a good hold on Abigail, which is a very good thing as she probably would have been blown away!
It was a large crowd back to the train, and an even larger one on it. Imagine sardines in a can. That is what it felt like. Finally we got back to Fussa, and Megan picked us up. We were exhausted, but what fun!
