Why do You Root for Your Team?

I support the Hanshin Tigers because my mother's family is from the Kansai area - my grandfather and my uncle's were and are Tigers' fans.

Also, they are the nemesis of "Kyojin" (Giants).

I like Hanshin Tigers because I like their special kantoku, Hoshino.

I like the Fukuoka Hawks because of thier young pitching staff and key position players. This coming season will make it difficult to like the team because of some of the off season craziness.

I simply support the Hawks because the year I came to Fukuoka was the year they moved there (1989), and I supported them throughout their 8 of 9 losing seasons (finishing no higher that 4th all those years) and went totally nuts and wild when they won the pennant and Japan Series in 1999 (though many then said it was a fluke). The scene was very similar to the Tigers' 1985 celebrations.

And this year, when the Hawks finally beat their huge rival Seibu Lions in the season series for the first time in like 20 years, and won the Japan Series - against the Tigers - a team in a similar predicament in the preceding years, to me it was a great season and a great series.

Had the Hawks lost it this year, I would not have been disappointed, because as a fan of a (formerly) cellar dweller, winning the Japan Series just once was satisfying for me. Unlike the Giants, where not winning the pennant and the Series is a failed season.

In general, the Pacific League represents the "new" with the domes and modern stadiums with bigger dimensions, more power hitters, and the DH (and less watched and attended).

If you're into major underdogs with character - I would suggest the Chiba Lotte Marines. Probably the most flare of any team and their fans I've seen in Japan. Owned by a Korean company, with (now) an American manager, and fans who behave like they couldn't find the soccer game so they went to the baseball game instead.

If you want a more traditional team, I'd suggest some teams from the Central League, like the Yakult Swallows (in Tokyo), or the Hiroshima Carp, or the Hanshin Tigers. They tend to epitomize the older style of Japanese baseball. Those three play in older stadiums and have a more traditional cheering style. The Tigers tend to be the most fanatic (much like Cubs or Red Sox fans in the U.S.) and wrote the book on how to celebrate (i.e. jumping in rivers).

The funky feature of the Swallows is every time they score, they pop open their umbrellas (supposedly for the pitcher to "hit the showers").

Hiroshima has an old little stadium with almost high-school dimensions, but no Carp player has hit 40 home runs there is quite a while. In the past they've been the team with the speed, batting average, and hustle type (I'm not sure now since I'm in the U.S. and don't get the chance to watch anymore).

Of course, if you like the Yankees, and the big teams with fans everywhere and nation-wide coverage, there's always the Giants, but you'll find that most (not all) gaijin in Japan end up disliking the Giants.

Actually, there are several books that descibe each team in English. I believe Dan Latham (who I think still contributes to this site) wrote a good one for newcomers (though the edition I read was early 1990s, and things have changed a little since then). If you want a decent idea of what it was like in the 1980s, you could watch Mr. Baseball.

Anyway, this is a long post, so I shall end it now. Hope this gave you an idea.

Thanks everyone for your posts. It is greatly appreciated. I can't stand the Yankees, so I won't go for the Giants. I am a life-long Red Sox fan.

It's hard when I have no connection with Japan. If the Marines have an American manager, I might go for them.

Bobby Valentine, of New York Mets fame, is the new manager of the Mariners.

It's interesting that someone wrote most foreigners don't like the Giants. I wonder why that is? Many Americans I know like rooting for the underdog. I have gone to see the Ham Fighters at Tokyo Dome because of that, and of course it is easy to get great seats. Now they are off to Hokkaido, so maybe I'll check out the Mariners next year when I visit.

Personally, I rooted for the Hanshin Tigers this year. They were kind of like the Red Sox, complete with their own curse.