Japan Study Trip N+10: Baseball, Tiny Bars, and Touristy Fun!

I started my morning with some pour-over coffee that was a gift from Ina Foods, 7-Eleven lemon pound cake, and watching local Japanese news. I hadn’t planned on my 7-Eleven breakfast, but the night before, I stopped in a 7-Eleven store to have them print my baseball and sumo tickets. The sports vendors have a process with 7-Eleven to print tickets from your email confirmation process. I know it seems ridiculous to many of my readers, but the food at 7-Eleven was impressive, tasty, expansive, and affordable. Highly recommend it for a quick bite in Japan.

Nakameguro Neighborhood 

My first stop of the day was a visit to the Nakameguro neighborhood, centered around the Meguro River. This sophisticated neighborhood is home to a range of restaurants, coffee shops, trendy shops, and bars. The center of the neighborhood runs along the river with densely packed riverside cherry trees. It was fun to imagine what my day-to-day life would be like living in Japan in this neighborhood. I got turned around while looking for the Meguro River but enjoyed my stroll around the residential areas and parks. 

Meiji Jingu

After my stroll, I made my way via my second taxi ride of the trip to the Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine. I tried to take trains as much as possible due to the high prices of taxis, but I needed to get to the shrine quicker so I wouldn’t miss the baseball game. This shire honors Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, who had led Japan through rapid modernization starting in the second half of the 19th century. It is nestled in dense and serene forest grounds with approximately 100,000 trees planted during the shrine's construction donated from regions across Japan. It was an incredibly peaceful walk as I made my way to the main shrine.  

Yomiuri Giants Baseball Game

From Meiji Jingu, I hopped on the train and made my way to the Tokyo Dome for a Yomiuri Giants Baseball Game. While sumo is Japan's national sport, baseball is one of Japan's most popular. While baseball at heart, there are some very unique Japanese twists. For example, games can end in a tie. By far, the best thing about Japanese baseball is the fans. The fans are very loyal and lively at the event. Teams have fans of dedicated cheering squads called oendan. The oendan pound taiko drums, blare brassy melodies from horns, wave flags, and call out catchy cheers. In addition, to oendan, teams have high-kicking pom-pom waving cheerleaders. While Japan’s ballpark atmosphere is louder than America’s, it’s also more courteous: no one fights over foul balls, no booing, and no brawling. I also enjoyed the Japanese take on beer. Instead of iced-down bottles, servers walk around the stands with a mini-keg of draft beer in an insulated backpack, “Alexa, add to Amazon wish list.”  

Shibuya Crossing

After a fun-filled afternoon at the baseball game, I took the train to the famous Shibuya Crossing. Shibuya Crossing is to Tokyo, as Times Square is to New York City. Touristy, yes, but I still wanted to see it. This intersection is frequently called "the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world," with and the estimated number of pedestrians crossing the intersection was as much as 3,000 per green light every 2 minutes.

Shinjuku Tiny Bars 

After crossing the Shibuya intersection a few times, I made my way to the Shinjuku tiny bar district. This was another bucket-list item on my trip. The Shinjuku Golden Gai packs close to 300 bars into six blocks of small alleyways about two meters wide. Almost every bar in the district has a max seating capacity of 6-8 people. You also have to be mindful of the bars you enter, as many are member-only or have signs posted saying “no foreigners,” “no tourists,” or “regulars only.” I went to five bars that night and felt welcome in all but one. My favorite was a spot that had a yakiniku and great cocktails; however, the name evades me. Occupational hazard of the night, I suppose. 

N+11

Tomorrow will be my last full day in Japan. I plan to make the most of it by exploring the Tsukiji Fish Market, visiting a couple more temples, watching a sumo tournament, and having a private chef-selection sushi dinner. Lots to pack in on my last day!