It’s so nice to have someone who has been to Tokyo as many times as Bob has because he does everything for us.  It takes a lot of the stress out of figuring out the maps and ticket machines. 

Marc and I have done this many times and are quite capable, but it always takes us a while to wrap our heads around the directions.  It put us at ease to have Bob do all the guesswork for us.  Besides, we’ll have plenty of time on our own to wrestle with Japan’s public transportation system once the baseball tour is over.

I love wandering around Tokyo.  Although Marc and I have been to the Ginza, it was nice to see it again through the eyes of people who have never been.   And I always relish the chance to see the Kabuki Theater.  I have taken dozens of pictures of this structure, but each time I see it, I take more. It’s almost as if I discover a new little detail that I hadn’t noticed. We marveled over the crowd of people waiting in the muggy air outside of the theater.  

After our walk through Japan’s famous shopping center, we found a different kind of shopping area in the Ueno section of Tokyo.  Ameyayokocho has its roots in the post–World War II black market, and it is still a thriving shopping arcade.  Goods such as clothing, jewelry, and all kinds of food are on display.  

Later we walked through nearby Ueno Park's tree-lined corridors and, as, luck would have it, we ran into a parade.  Elaborate floats were carried on the shoulders of young men and women wearing colorful happi coats.  We have no idea what the parade was celebrating, but it was fun to watch.

The group reconvened at the massive Ueno Park train station to head back to the hotel.  Marc and I bought bread at Andersen Bakery to eat when we were in our rooms.  After a quick nap, we were ready to see our first Japanese baseball game. 

"I can’t believe you baseball fans spent all this money to go to the other side of the world and spend the game talking to each other instead of watching the game.  You could accomplish the same thing in an airport bar."

I suppose my husband, who is not a baseball fan, was right when he said this.  Yes, the purpose of the trip is to experience baseball in another country, but when a group of people from all parts of the U.S. gets together, there tends to be more talking about baseball than watching it. 

Frankly, there's a lot going on inside a Japanese professional ballpark; I was easily distracted from the game by the fans with their chants and their bands, the beer girls and other vendors, the mascots and dancing cheerleaders, the food.  

It's sensory overload, much in the same way that Tokyo itself is overwhelming the first (and second and third and fourth) time on visits.  

Sight: The amazing scoreboard.

Sound: Drums, trumpets, chants for each player.

Taste: Chicken kara age and a cold Yebisu.  

Smell: Fried food and bento boxes from concessions.

Touch: Sweaty, clammy skin in the Tokyo humidity.

And I caught a foul ball! 

Well, I didn’t actually catch the ball; I picked it up off the ground after it nearly hit fellow JapanBaller Rick.  I offered him the ball, saying that since it almost hit him, it should be his.  He declined and told me the ball was mine.

Bob Bavasi, the founder of JapanBall and the leader of our tour group, said that his father, the late Buzzie Bavasi of Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers fame, once broke his leg while putting on his underwear. 

Bob told his father that he didn’t need to tell anyone how the leg was broken.  Therefore, I needn’t mention in the future how the foul ball came into my possession; the important thing is I have it. 

I’m learning more about Japanese baseball, even if I'm not watching every pitch.  Wayne Graczyk, an ex-pat who has been involved in writing about Japanese baseball for more than 30 years, told me why the games here sometimes end in ties. 

Games in Japan do go extra innings, but 12 is the limit.  It’s because the majority of fans take public transportation to games, and the subways don’t run 24 hours.  The officials at Nippon Professional Baseball recognize this and don't want their fans stuck in a ballpark in the middle of the night.  

I'm looking forward to learning more about Japanese baseball in the coming days and sharing it with everyone.  More from Kyoto as we take in games in Nagoya and Osaka.

I'm in my hotel in Kyoto on Monday writing about riding the shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto.  Which actually happened two days ago.  The interesting part about writing this blog (and for YESNetwork.com) means that I should write every day.  Hmm, this leads to a delicate balance between the time management of experiencing everything and then writing about it.

So let's see if I can catch up.  The group rode the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto.  As we checked out of hotel, Bob and Mayumi had cabs lined up to take us to Tokyo Station.  Again, I can’t describe enough how pleasant it is to have these little details taken care of.  There are no worries when it comes to transportation.

I bought a bento box at the rail track.  We managed to find the space behind the last seat on the shinkansen to store our luggage.  (Marc ended up stacking our big suitcase on top of a fellow group member’s.) 

I admit that I’m a notorious over packer, but on this trip we did very well considering we’re staying in Japan the entire month.  Luckily, there is good overhead space, so we put our smaller bag up there, but there were a lot of people who were traveling with fairly large suitcases.

I love looking out the window of the bullet train as it speeds through Japan’s countryside.  Once we’ve passed Tokyo and Yokohama, it’s so nice to see the green spaces and the rice paddies and the farmhouses and the mountains.  I think October is the time of the rice harvest. 

One of my favorite things to see from the window of the train is the stack of cut rice fashioned to look like its kanji character (米).  The neat lines of the paddies look like the kanji, too (田). The farther west we traveled, the more I saw rice that was harvested and stacked.  In the east, the rice still looked green. 

As I look out the window, I'm flooded with sights of the countryside. The clusters of houses with ceramic-tiled roofs zoom by. Mountains as a backdrop. Industrial buildings: Shiseido, Knorr, Foleo.  I saw two white cranes (or were they herons?), one standing in a rice field, one flying between two rice paddies.  People riding bikes on a lonely road cutting through fields. 

Once in Kyoto, we take a short walk to the hotel where we have a few minutes to check in, drop our bags in our rooms, freshen up and grab a quick bite to eat before walking back to the train station to make our way to Nagoya for our second game of the tour.  

On the train I sat next to a lovely Japanese lady who was on her way to visit her daughter in Tokyo.  We spoke in Japanese, mainly about food and travel, and although I understood about 80% of what she said, I was pleased with the conversation.  

I find that once most Japanese people realize that I am capable of speaking Japanese, they are happy to talk. They slow it down for me, though, and it's almost as if their vocabulary changes to accommodate my third-grade level.  

As I wrote in my final story for YESNetwork.com, you'll become a fan of both Japanese baseball and the country after spending a week with Bob and Mayumi.  

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