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Broadcasting to an audience of three (and a goldfish)...
Comment, ramblings and musings... life through the eyes of a Japanologist...
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Saturday, November 30, 2002 |
 My house
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Takedomi- Kure
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The huge support for Hiroshima sports teams was evident too in Motomachi Cred, where there is a huge television screen that was broadcasting the Sapporo-Hiroshima match. As I came up from Shareo, the underground shopping mall, I thought there was some sort of demonstration going on, so great was the noise. But it was no demonstration- just a very good-humoured group of people watching the match, and supporting their city's team. Especially striking, though, was the make-up of this crowd. There was a hard-core group of fans in their purple shirts at the front of the group, but they were far, far outnumbered by normal people who presumably had taken time out from shopping to support Sanfrecce in their battle to avoid relegation. Even the staff trying to get people to sign up for a 'Pacela Card' seemed halfhearted, and kept moving round so they could see how the match was going.
With the score at 4-all, the purple-shirted brigade were throwing themselves into their chants and songs, in which a good proportion of the rest of the crowd joined too. I climbed up to the second floor of Pacela (the shopping centre at Motomachi Cred) to get a better view; watching the crowd was at least as interesting as watching the match itself! In any case, there was no real need to be able to see the screen in order to know what was going on; the crowd's reactions- from cheers and applause to gasps and hair-tearing- was more than enough. I only had my Clie with me, but the crowd merited a photograph:
I didn't have time to watch until the end of the match, but when I left Pacela, the crowd had mostly left, from which I assume that Sanfrecce failed to avoid relegation. Also, as I passed, the lights on the Christmas tree had all been dimmed. Just coincidence? I don't think so.
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I bought George Harrison's new album from Tower Records, which is right next to Kamo, a shop selling football equipment. Of course, the television in Kamo was showing the Sapporo-Hiroshima match, and it seemed that both the customers and most of the staff were only interested in watching the match. Just as I passed, Hiroshima scored their first goal to equalise, and the whole shop erupted! It was most amusing- but it also reminded me of just why I like Hiroshima so much. People here are really proud of Hiroshima, and of being citizens of Hiroshima, and this pride carries over into almost fanatical support for the baseball and football teams. This pride is almost like patriotism on a prefectural level, and I think it's very important. It's a feeling close to exhilaration to be in a city where so many of the citizens are rooting for the same thing.
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Hiroshima- first time in a while
Starbucks
Chemists
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Tidied
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© Copyright 2003 Nathan Duckworth.
Updated: 8/1/03; 8:57:56 pm.
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