My trip to Tokyo coincided with the annual football championship known as the Rice Bowl. Aside from the Canadian Football League’s championship Grey Cup, the Super Bowl of Canada (which I have also been to), this is probably the biggest American football game outside of the USA. My love of obscure sporting events got the best of me, and I decided to buy a ticket. Before this year, the game was between the top college team in Japan and the top semi-professional team in the X League, Japan’s football league. However, starting this year the Rice Bowl will be the championship for the semi-pro league only. In recent years, the X League teams have dominated with a larger amount of money and resources at their disposal, and a college team had not won for the last 17 years, so I understand the decision to make it X League only.
The Rice Bowl is somewhat known in Japan. When I told people I met in Tokyo that I was going to the Rice Bowl, the response was mixed. Some people knew of the game and said it was popular and well known among Japanese sports fans. Others had no idea what it was and thought I was talking about a dish! Nonetheless, it is broadcast on tv and can draw 40,000 people. The game actually has a long history. It has been run every year since 1948 and is on January 3rd every year, similar to American college football New Year’s traditions. This year, the game was between the Panasonic Impulse and the Fujitsu Frontiers. Being a corporate league, all the members of the teams actually work for the companies they play for. As far as quality of play, I would say it’s probably on the lower college level, maybe similar to Division 2 or 3. Teams are allowed some foreigners on the roster, and both teams had some former Division 1 NCAA players on their roster.
The game is held at the Tokyo Dome. All 3 times I have been to Tokyo, I have ended up going to the Dome to see some sporting event! I was seated on the Fujitsu side of the stadium, so I suppose I was rooting for them solely for that reason. The game was very competitive. Both teams played very hard, and Fujitsu benefited from 2 key plays. The first was a missed Panasonic field goal in the 1st quarter. The other was late in the 4th quarter with Fujitsu up by 3 points. The Panasonic running back fumbled the ball on the 1 yard line and it was recovered by Fujitsu in their end zone. I saw the official motion for a touchback and I started cheering, but most of the Fujitsu fans near me were just confused, until the referee explained what happened over the PA and the Fujitsu section erupted in applause and cheers. Fujitsu ended up getting a stop on 4th down in the final seconds and winning by a score of 24-18. Overall, it was very fun. The game had everything you would expect from a football game. There was even a halftime show, featuring all the cheerleaders from all the teams in the X League, whom I believe also all work at their respective companies. About half way through the halftime show, a man in dressed in drag as a cheerleader came out and led the rest in a dance routine. Honestly, I’m not sure what it was about but it was quite amusing regardless.
After the game, I went to Yokohama to visit Megumi and her family. It was nice to see them all again, and they treated me to a home cooked meal as well as some traditional Japanese New Year’s food known as Osechi. Osechi is a whole variety of different foods eaten after New Year’s. Each is supposed to have a distinct significance that imbues whoever consumes it with a certain quality for the New Year. For instance, eating lobster is said to lead to a good year at work. Likewise, eating an egg dish is said to be good for students. I had a good time catching up with the Hobo family after nearly 3 years since I saw them last. It’s nice that our families have managed to remain in contact for all these years. I invited them to visit Sado as well, and I hope to see them out here some time in the future. I left Tokyo the next day and I’m now back in Sado. Overall the trip was very fun, but I am glad to be back home. This Monday is a very important holiday in Japan so I will be posting about it soon.
Sam in Japan 