From baseball to sake and cherry blossoms Japanese rituals endure, writes Asia Sentinel’s Todd Crowell
Amid questions about whether such frivolity was appropriate during a time of national disaster, baseball is on again in the Japanese spring. With high schools deciding to maintain their passionate national championship game, the professionals followed suit.
Even cherry blossom frolics put on a forced smile in the face of tragedy.
The opening game of the 2011 season pitted the Rakuten Golden Eagles, from the quake-hit northeast, against the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Marines’ home park near Tokyo. All the familiar opening day rituals were on display, cheerleaders in pink satin dresses and hawkers selling hotdogs on a stick and soba noodles.
Cherry blossoms at a Tokyp park this month. Pic: AP.
Still, the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami was present. The national flag was flying at half mast, honoring the tens of thousands killed or missing. Play was also halted for a short while during the fourth inning because of an aftershock.
Although the earthquake left Tokyo mostly undamaged, it did cause considerable structural damage to this suburban city of Urayasu because much of it is built on reclaimed land subject to “liquefaction” during a severe quake.
The parking lot was closed because the concrete buckled in many places. The same problem kept the nearby Tokyo Disneyland closed for a month, costing its owner about $250 million in lost revenue. It only recently reopened, but other theme parks along this stretch of Tokyo Bay remain closed.
