Fukuoka (Day 37): Japanese Baseball (Go Hawks!)

April 6, 2016

Today was our first full day in Fukuoka and we were ready to explore the city. The weather was overcast and about 18 degrees celsius, which was perfect weather for walking around. After having ramen last night, the next thing we wanted to have was obviously sushi. One of the first restaurants (highly rated on Trip Advisor) to come up when I Google searched was “Chikae Fukuoka Shop”. Our plan for today was to go there for lunch and walk around the city – a pretty low key day.

Chikae Fukuoka Shop was about an 8 minute walk from our hotel. When we arrived at around 12:30pm, there was a long line up outside. The line was a mixed bag of businessmen in black suits, older Japanese ladies and a few tourists (we seemed like the only North American tourists – most were Korean or from Hong Kong). The line up went fairly quickly and we were in the restaurant in less than 15 minutes. The restaurant is quite large with fish tanks in the middle of the restaurant with counter seating around it as well as tables around the counters. We were lucky to get a seat at the counter so we had a good view of all the fish in the tanks.

Line outside Chikae. See if you spot Tim in the middle of the line!
Line outside Chikae. See if you spot Tim in the middle of the line!
Restaurant entrance
Chikae Fukuoka Shop entrance
Squid swimming in the tanks
Squid swimming in the tanks
There were probably about 30 fish tanks in the middle, including a lower tank filled with eel (unagi)
There were probably about 30 fish tanks in the middle, including a lower tank filled with eel (unagi)

At lunch, there were only two lunch sets on the menu, each for 1,400 JPY ($16.90 CAD) – we got one of each. While we ate, we noticed that some locals would order sashimi and the sushi chef would come out of the kitchen, grab the fish out of the tank and chop it up behind the counter and serve it. There are no prices for these fish that we could see, so we just stuck to the lunch sets.

Tim's sashimi lunch set : oden type dish, agedashi tofu, sashimi plate (6 pieces), steamed egg custard, tempura, crab miso soup and a bowl of rice. (1,400 JPY = $16.90 CAD)
Tim’s sashimi lunch set : boiled vegetables/fish cake (was a bit sweet), agedashi tofu, sashimi plate (7 pieces), steamed egg custard, tempura, crab miso soup and a bowl of rice. (1,400 JPY = $16.90 CAD)
My soba lunch set: steamed egg custard, tempura, zaru soba, agedashi tofu, rice with stewed pork, and a soup with sliced pork (1,400 JPY = $16.90 CAD)
My soba lunch set: steamed egg custard, tempura, zaru soba, agedashi tofu, rice with stewed pork, and a soup with sliced pork (1,400 JPY = $16.90 CAD)
Fukuoka is famous for their spicy cod roe (Karashi Mentai). You see this in a lot of restaurant in tube form. You are supposed to squeeze it and put it in your rice - pretty delicious!
Fukuoka is famous for their spicy cod roe (Karashi Mentai). You see this in a lot of restaurants in tube form. You are supposed to squeeze it and put it in your rice – pretty delicious!

After we finished lunch around 1:30pm, there was no longer a line up outside the restaurant, good to know if we ever come back in the future. We started to walk towards Maizuru Park, where the Fukuoka Castle ruins are. During the Edo Period (1603-1867), the Fukuoka Castle used to be the largest castle in Kyushu. It was subsequently torn down during the Meiji Restoration as it symbolized Japan’s feudal past. Today, it’s a park in the middle of the city with some view points and surrounded with cherry blossom trees. Since Fukuoka is in southern Japan, the cherry blossoms have already bloomed here and are now starting to fall and tree are sprouting green leaves. The views of the city were nice, as we looked to the left, we could see the Ohori Park lake, Fukuoka Tower and Fukuoka Dome – where we were heading later in the afternoon.

There were a lot of people having picnics in each area where there were cherry blossoms around Fukuoka
There were a lot of people having picnics in each area where there were cherry blossoms around Fukuoka
Fukuoka Castle ruins
Walking to the view point
Tim looking towards the Fukuoka Dome area
Tim looking towards the Fukuoka Dome area
Fukuoka Castle ruins
Fukuoka Castle

As we made our way towards Ohori Park, we passed by the Gokoku Shrine and took some pictures. The area was very quiet and peaceful. I really enjoyed having so many trees surrounding us during our walk – it felt really good to breathe in some fresher air.

No one around so we took a selfie the Japanese way

Shrine blessings
Shrine blessings
Tim washing his hands with fresh water
Tim washing his hands with the fresh water

Ohori Park was our main destination on our walk, it is Fukuoka’s main park in the centre of the city with a large pond and many small bridges. We sat down on a park bench facing the pond for a bit just to sit and relax. We noticed as we walked around the pond that many people were by themselves and looked like they were doing some self-reflection as well.

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Ohori Park pond
Ohori Park pond
No fishing allowed. There are a lot of huge black poi in the pond as well as turtles
No fishing allowed. There are a lot of huge black koi in the pond as well as turtles

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The pavilion is what you see when you google Ohori Park. (It's not very well maintained)
The pavilion is what you see when you google Ohori Park. (It’s not very well maintained)

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This island in the pond was full of brown feathered hawks. We were sitting on a bench watching them and all of a sudden one of them flew towards a crow that was by us and they were chasing each other in the air for a while. It was like live National Geographic!
This island in the pond was full of brown feathered hawks. We were sitting on a bench watching them and all of a sudden one of them flew towards a crow that was by us and they were chasing each other in the air for a while. It was like live National Geographic!

After our relaxing stroll around Ohori Park, we made our way to the Fukuoka Dome and Umi no nakamichi Sea Side Park. This walk took about 20 minutes through the city – passing by more canals.

When we got close to the Fukuoka Dome around 4:00pm, we noticed there were a lot of locals heading towards it. The Fukuoka Dome is home to the city’s baseball team, the SoftBank Hawks. We were excited because I had tried to look up a game schedule but their English website only showed their 2015 schedule so we thought we missed out. As baseball is Japan’s most popular sport, we were hoping to catch a game at some point. Once we made it to the top of the stairs, it definitely looked like game day! I read that the Hawks are one of the best teams in the league as they have won the league championship multiple times and are currently the reigning Nippon Professional Baseball League champs (two years running).

Infront of the Fukuoka Dome
Infront of the Fukuoka Dome
This was a bouncy castle
This was a bouncy castle. (Tim: Kaitlyn was too tall to go in)

We went to the ticket counter and asked for the section in the outfield with the second cheapest seats – 1,000 JPY = $12 CAD. The most expensive tickets we saw on the price list were 60,000 JPY = $72 CAD. The lady at the ticketcounter told us “this section is very excited”, which meant to us that it was likely the team’s supporter section which sounded perfect to us!

Tim buying our game day tickets
Tim buying our game day tickets
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks vs. Chiba Lotte Marines
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks vs. Chiba Lotte Marines. I realize I took a picture of the receipt on the bottom…the top one is the ticket

We found out the game didn’t start until 6:00pm, but there were already so many people lined up at 4pm to get into the dome as the doors opened at 4:30pm. We decided to walk to Momochi Seaside Park (as planned) that was beside the stadium and come back a bit before the game started to grab food and walk around the concourse.

Momochi Seaside Park was nice to walk around on the “sea wall”. It seemed like this place would be a lot busier during the summer as there were a lot of businesses and shacks that weren’t open. The beach itself had a surprising number of teenagers just hanging out with their shoes off.

Shacks closed for the season
Shacks closed for the season
Momochi Seaside Park
Momochi Seaside Park
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Beach walkway with Fukuoka Tower in the background
Two dudes chilling on a rock. Basically sums up what Fukuoka is like.
Two dudes chilling on a rock. Basically sums up what Fukuoka is like.
The Hilton beside the Fukuoka Dome is called "Hilton Sea Hawk", so naturally the man hole covers around the area have to support their team too
The Hilton beside the Fukuoka Dome is called “Hilton Sea Hawk”, so naturally the man hole covers around the area have to support their team too

We made our way back to the stadium around 5pm and headed in. It turns out you can bring your own food in – which is why so many people had big backpacks and why Family Mart (a convenience store) inside the Hilton was crazy busy. We could’ve brought in our own food but at the same time we wanted to try “Japanese stadium food”. They had MOS Burger, bentos, takoyaki, ramen, and other American stadium food. The prices were typical of a stadium – about 30-40% more than what it would be outside.

We got to our seats and they were better than I expected for 1,000 JPY. We were right beside the main supporter section so every time the Hawks were up at bat, everyone would be standing but when the other team was batting, you could sit down. We got to our seats well before the game started and there were a lot of people already seated and enjoying the pre-game entertainment. The game was a lot of fun mostly due to the songs and chants they had for each player (my favourite was for Yuichi Honda). They would say a bunch of stuff in Japanese and then say the player’s last name repeatedly until they were done. This taught us (or just me) how to pronounce some of their last names properly. It was a lot of fun and it was probably the best $12 CAD we spent this whole trip.

View from our seats. Our area was definitely the most fun!
View from our seats. Our area was definitely the most fun!
When Honda was at bat, it was my favourite chant/song
When Honda was at bat, it was my favourite chant/song
Bases were loaded, but they weren't able to convert...
Bases were loaded, but they weren’t able to convert…
Tim made friends with the boy infront of him. Every time the Hawks scored, he would turn around and high five everyone (except me)
Tim made friends with the boy infront of him. Every time the Hawks scored, he would turn around and high five everyone (except me). He knew all the songs and was very into the game.
We ordered a takoyaki combo with beer for 1,250 JPY = $15 CAD
We ordered a takoyaki combo with beer for 1,250 JPY = $15 CAD.
This Mom and baby were there until the end. The baby fell asleep even while the Mom was singing and cheering... her neck was not stable
This Mom and baby were there until the end. The baby fell asleep even while the Mom was singing and cheering… her neck was not stable (Tim: hard to be stable when your strapped to a lady jumping and swinging her arms around… can’t let a baby hold you back!)
Our MOS burger combo for 790 JPY = $9.50 CAD
Our MOS burger combo for 790 JPY = $9.50 CAD
Hawk's Program. I like how the coach is front and centre
Hawk’s Program. I like how the coach is front and centre
Right before the 7th inning was over, everyone had blown up their yellow balloons
Right before the 7th inning was over, everyone had blown up their yellow balloons
The release
This was pretty awesome! Tim took a video
Melon soda with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. They have this at Guu Garden in Vancouver too! (450 JPY = $5.40 CAD)
Melon soda with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. They have this at Guu Garden in Vancouver too! (450 JPY = $5.40 CAD)

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Unfortunately the Hawks lost to the Chiba Lotte Marines 4-3, which is too bad because the Hawks pretty much dominated the game in terms of hits but they weren’t able to convert (they had the bases loaded three times). The Marines, on the other hand, hardly had any hits but got 3 home runs.

What I enjoyed the most wasn’t the baseball game but watching everyone around us having fun while supporting their home team. There wasn’t a “type” of Hawks fun, it was basically everyone (it seemed like everyone in Fukuoka was there) – young and old, men and women, from all walks of life and age (babies to people who look like they’re in their 80s). I find that at most live sporting events in North America, it’s mostly dominated by groups of men and you rarely see large groups of girls or women without any guys, but at this game there were a lot of groups of just women (and they didn’t look like “puck bunny” types).

I’m really happy we “stumbled” upon this game and we were lucky enough to have experienced a Japanese baseball game with some really die hard fans. If only Canucks games were as fun!

After the game was over, we walked back from the stadium to our hotel in about 30 minutes. We didn’t want to bother with going 3 stops on the subway since it was so busy – must have been close to 30,000 people in the stadium all trying to get home. On our way back, we stopped by Lawson’s (Japanese convenience store) to pick up some onigiris to eat as we weren’t that full from the food at the game.

The pretty things you see when you walk
The pretty things you see when you walk. All the cherry blossom around the castle ruins were lit up.
Our two onigiris and Coke from Lawson's (349 JPY = $4.20 CAD)
Our two onigiris and Coke from Lawson’s (349 JPY = $4.20 CAD) (Tim: Happy to report Japanese Coke is delicious too! )

We stayed up really late (until 2am) and decided to just play tomorrow by ear since our plan to go to Nagasaki early didn’t look like it was going to happen.

Steps today: 30,000

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