Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan

Today we rose early and took a walk downtown in search of breakfast. We’re still struggling with the time change and are awake in the middle of the night. On the wish list for today was a plan to head to the Tokyo dome to catch a game between the two Tokyo based professional baseball teams, the Yakult Swallows and the Yomiuri Giants. Joining a crowd of 55,000 at the domed stadium where you chose your seat according to who you are cheering for, we stood out for not wearing a team jersey and not having a towel to wave nor a tutu hair scrunchie or tutu clip-on for our clothes or purse. Apart from that we quickly learned the cheers and when they were appropriate. There were cheerleaders and a team of mascots and the fans sang and knocked their tiny plastic bats together throughout the entire game in which the Giants won 3-0. The stadium was state of the art with a huge jumbotron. The snacks at the concession were green soybeans, ramen. fried chicken and sushi. No popcorn available for this girl but we did find a hotdog with salsa and liquid cheese on top. It was great fun and a good way to fill our last day of freedom for the next few months. The group meet up was at 6pm and we headed to a Japanese restaurant where we had a rather sparse shared meal of mystery fish and some pork and chicken skewers. Time for bed so we can rest up for our first adventure with our new travel buddies tomorrow.Read more