Toreba no Toraba: HT Fans Worldwide Long for A.R.E.

From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから

It was an August for the ages, was it not? The Tigers only lost one series during its “Road of Death” and ended their time away from Koshien with an incredible 18-5 record. It surely was a great time to watch the Tigers do their thing.

Unfortunately for me, I was not able to enjoy much of this fierce charge, outside of checking scores on my phone and occasionally watching highlights. Why? I spent much of the month overseas on a family vacation, so not only did I feel a need to “leave work behind” (yes, H-TEN is work in some ways – a labor of love) but also, time zone differences and game accessibility prevented me from watching.

This is the case for hundreds of Tigers fans all over the world… and if you did not know that, then you have not been part of the H-TEN community long enough. We have over a thousand people checking in regularly on scores and news, and many of those are people living outside of Japan. The inconveniences I experienced for three weeks are their normal, all season, every season. I decided to ask some of them a few questions to try to better understand their lives as members of the Hanshin Tigers nation.

I received responses from people in Australia, Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, Maryland, the UK, the Netherlands, and Dubai. Despite the challenges of being a non-Japanese Tigers fan living overseas – time zones, game accessibility, and language – these folks all find a way to make life as a Hanshin Tigers fan work for them. This chart should give you a basic understanding of each fan’s situation, but allow me to elaborate a little on each of them.

Ian (Texas), the newest Tigers fan of the bunch (2021), told me that watching games live is really hard, but that he loves being part of the community of fans and sharing the joy of NPB with his American friends (MLB fans). Though he has yet to come to Japan to take in a game, he is hoping to make that happen someday.

Doug (Netherlands) actually first saw Japanese baseball at Jingu Stadium… but became a Tigers fan because he got engaged to a lady from Osaka! He is able to “follow” the game as it unfolds some mornings (time permitting), but limits his actual viewing primarily to highlight videos, which he can consume during his lunch break. He loves being able to sport “awesome jerseys with exotic names on them” that locals have never seen before. The hardest part of following the team is that some services, including the Sports Navi app, are geo-blocked.

Fran (UK) felt the Tigers were a natural fit for him because of Osaka’s similarities to Manchester. He says he enjoys the window into culture that sport provides and has taken to sitting in the cheering sections at the various parks he has visited. He does not always watch games live but sometimes has it on in the background while he works. Even if he chooses to delay viewing games, he is able to shut out any score reports pretty easily, as very few people in Manchester follow the Tigers, let alone NPB – or baseball in general, even!

Zorny (Dubai) is originally from Brazil, which is where he first became a Tigers fan. He is one of the biggest sports freaks I know, following teams in over a dozen professional leagues all around the world. The Tigers probably rank at the top of his list of all-time favorites, along with the Boston Red Sox. He may not have watched much of this season’s action but he is still easily the second most active English tweeter when it comes to Hanshin. 

James McKnight (Arizona), author of two books about his experiences in Japan (which center on being a Tigers fan), lived in Gunma (a long pilgrimage to the mecca that is Koshien) for 12 years but managed to take in 15-20 games a year during that time. He says he loves wearing Hanshin gear to MLB games now and having the occasional fan recognize the swag as being Japanese.

Peter (Australia) has got to be the most ardent and passionate (and connected) Hanshin Tigers fan living outside of Japan. He has Tigers parties at work, schedules his business trips to Japan around the Tigers schedule, and has been heading the Australian Tigers’ oendan for years. He often watches highlights on YouTube on his bus ride to work but has not been able to watch many games live while at home. He says after you’ve been through the Dark Ages (1986-2002) as a fan, all other problems with being a fan living overseas pale in comparison.

Richard (Maryland) has been on a few JapanBall tours (something I talked about in an article back in 2018), and is hoping to be back next year. He catches games on Toratele among other streaming options and is the most consistent attendee of H-TEN’s monthly online game viewing parties. He says he misses the “hometown” feeling when cheering from such a distance, but loves keeping up with the team nonetheless. 

Sanjay (Hawaii) is my co-host on the podcast and a native Kobe kid. He has been a fan of the team since grade school and attended his first game at Koshien before I was even born. He watches at least the first 2-3 hours of nearly every game, into the wee hours of the night. And the pros and cons encapsulate that: being able to actually watch the Tigers is a huge joy, but it results in sleep deprivation at times. That said, he can conveniently turn the game off and “quit while we’re ahead” and go to sleep without thinking too much about it. And after many years of living away from Kansai, he will be making his long-awaited return to Koshien on September 14 with yours truly! Keep your eyes open for a report from the ballpark!

All these guys are committed to following the team despite the obvious obstacles in front of them. I’d say it’s high time they are rewarded with a pennant – don’t you?