Top line: Name, Gender and Photo/ID
I put my name down as well as the Twitter handle. Hopefully you can recognize 男 vs 女 for male vs female. It's very key on a few places when visiting Japan and some signs are not blue/pink when differentiating. My family name gets to be in kanji with 甄 rather than the usual katakana for almost anyone in the western world. On the far right, it asks for an icon or picture, so I inserted what you see above.
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Favorite team: Saitama Seibu Lions
This should be pretty self-explanatory on circling your favorite NPB team. Some may circle their favorite Central and Pacific League squads. Personally when it comes to thee Central, I'll prefer someone not named the Yomiuri Giants. Each team has their own pros and cons, though picking the Hanshin Tigers would be too unlikely given their too popular for myself.
As for why the Lions? The long version is here. A follow up is here. Keep in mind, I have no blood ties to any region or city in Japan, but I also don't like picking a team because they've winning or I found something convenient when watching them in-season. Did research in the offseason so I'd have someone by Opening Day.
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How long have you been a fan? Winter of 2014
Wes Mills, the founder of this blog and occasional contributor as well as myself started wanting to go for an NPB team shortly after the 2014 season ended. Some research and similarity to the Oakland A's made the Lions an easy call.
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Which stadium do you go to most often?
Technically speaking, I've been to MetLife Dome and Nagoya Dome for the same number of games. Having been born and raised in the Bay Area, the Oakland Coliseum is the most visited Stadium in my lifetime (100+ games).
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How often did you visit the Stadium last year?
In 2019, I went to MetLife Dome and Nagoya Dome three times each. Technically speaking, I walked by MetLife Dome a fourth time after hiking around Tokorozawa for a day, but didn't attend the game due to other commitments. I'm sure in my lifetime MetLife Dome visits will increase.
Now that I reside outside California, my MLB visits are scarce, as I only saw Minute Maid Park and Glofe Life Park at the Major League level.
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Your favorite players, including retired ones:
Kazuhisa Inao: Best player in Lions history, #24 only number retired, fittingly one of the best player in Oakland Athletics history (Rickey Henderson) also had that number.
Sosuke Genda: Defense and speed, transformed the infield in a flash.
Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura: Who loves that nickname? I sure do, plus he's got a great swing and look and it connects. Never retire!
Tomoya Mori: Short players can succeed. Mori has a snappy swing who can do a lot of damage. He's also got some fun personality with his walkup song choices.
Hiroki Kuroda: An underrated pitcher in the States, already a legend in Japan. Kuroda had a solid career that even MLB fans will remember him for. Sure, he wasn't a star, but continued to chug along as a decent rotation starter.
Tsutomu Ito: Catchers. Something about liking the brain of a team and someone who endured the entire Golden Era. Safe to say, he had a nice and long career and still won as a manager too.
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Favorite team or player songs:
Seibu Lions Chance #4. It's straight to the point, has a guy's and girl's part and is built for when the game is on the line.
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Honorable mention unwritten:
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Favorite Mascot character(s):
Tsubakuro: The Yakult Swallows mascot has great personality even though he's a troublemaker. Love his appearance for someone as large as well as always trying to flip a hat on his head. Watch out for pranks!
Leo: No one is more athletic than Leo given how many flips he's doing and how long it's going. Impressive.
Lyna: Can't hate the Lions feminine mascot right?
Kobaton: Saitama prefecture's government mascot has a very simple look, something I can appreciate. Love the movements and simplicity of how dazed he is. It's only a coincidence that it happens to be within Saitama.
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Favorite Sports other than Baseball:
Ice Hockey: I'm no Canadian or Russian, but hockey is very entertaining on the ice. Yoshiaki Tsutsumi would be proud how much I love the game. Something about tradition, hitting players hard, skating on the ice and fan intellect just adds up.
Honorable Mention not written listed:
College (American) Football: It's the closest thing to an Oendan in the States. Great atmosphere and unpredictable.
Other than that, NFL was once part of my work. Soccer isn't bad either as I pay attention to Serie A. It's all a coincidence I follow the team Yuto Nagatomo once played for known F.C. Internazionale.
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Final Remarks:
There are plenty of NPB fans outside of Japan too! I'm just one of them. Ganbarre Lions!
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