See you in the funny papers

I must be getting old.

As I was preparing a post about Japanese baseball culture, I referred to the trip I took to that country earlier this year. It was a thrilling two-week experience which included the opportunity to acquire and visit a lot of baseball.

But lo and behold, when I went to link that to the new entry, there was nothing there!

Normally I would write a separate post for that but I’m going to be more succinct and describe it here.

During our stay, we visited Tokyo, twice, and Hiroshima, among other cities. Shohei Ohtani’s presence was everywhere. On billboards, in TV ads for various products, on subways, even on vending machines.

It just so happened that the Dodgers were facing the Cubs in the MLB season opening series, something of which I was not aware. Even if I wanted, I probably wouldn’t have been able to attend a game, given to scheduling conflicts.

But I did get a chance to visit the Tokyo Dome where I donated a copy of 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die to their Hall of Fame library. That was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, with all the formality of business cards exchanged.

While I was at the Dome, I continued the tradition/requirement of only getting a team’s hate when I’m in the city/state where they play. (I also picked up a Hiroshima Carp cap when we visited that city).

When we visited Kyoto, I took a few fours off from the group to visit one of the larger bookstores in the city. They had a substantial baseball section and I purchased a few items (none of which I can read, lol). Sadly, none of their small English language section had any baseball titles.

There was also several shelves devoted to high school baseball, which just might be a bigger deal there than college football is here.Love that A’s uniform.

I also like to collect newspaper from the different paces I visit. I picked up a copy of an English-language one on a weekend that had a large comics section. Just my luck, one of them was about baseball.

Speaking of cartoons…

I recently purchased an English version of Short Game: Mitsuru Adachi’s High School Baseball Collection, a popular manga. I had to look up how to read it, because it’s not straightforward like an American comic book. In fact, it’s almost like Hebrew in that you read it back to front, right to left. Here’s a more accurate description, but you’ll forgive me if there’s more than one way.

It may be a cultural thing, but I found it a bit silly and repetitive. But then again, I’m looking at it through American eyes. The themes are uniquely Japanese. You won’t find its equivalent here. It reminded me of Rookies, a Japanese show about high school baseball currently streaming on Netflix. Here’s the description: “Passionate teacher Koichi takes on a troubled high school baseball team. He inspires them to rediscover their love for the game, pursuing dreams of Koshien tournament glory.” (Koshien is the summer high school tournament to which all teams aspire.)

Again, judging by my ganjin sensibilities, this show is nuts: the acting is overwrought with lots of screaming and shouting. The characters are cartoonish, the writing cheesy, repetitive, and cliched. Even the music is overly emotional. See what you think.