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47°F / 8°C
(Overcast. Cool.)
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Yokohama-koen
Yokohama
231-0022
+81 45 661 1251
 Website
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Yokohama Stadium is the home of the Yokohama Bay Stars, Yokohama's baseball team. Japan has perhaps the most eclectic culture on earth, choosing to adopt what it considers to be best in other cultures. And sports are no exception. Baseball was first introduced from the US in 1873, and it was love at first strike. Today baseball is Japan's national sport. However, like everything foreign that has been adopted and assimilated into Japanese society, baseball has been re-cast to match Japanese culture. The most striking change to American observers is that Japanese players do not steal bases. Why? Because in this group-oriented society it is the team that counts, not the individual, and such actions as stealing bases stress individual accomplishment and are thus frowned upon. The bizarre exception to this rule is the idol worshipping of the coaches. Everyday during baseball season, images of coaches are plastered in newspapers and broadsides on all commuter trains. And during televised baseball games, the camera intently focuses on the faces of the coaches for as much as 50 percent of the game, as if the coaches were mentally controlling the movements of the players on their teams. And the Japanese fans love it. But don't take anyone's word for it, come to Yokohama Stadium, feel the excitement surge through the crowds, and decide for yourself.
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