My First Baseball Game at Es Con Field

 I was never interested in baseball.

In fact, baseball was never really a part of my life growing up in the Philippines. We don't have the same baseball culture that Japan has, so I knew very little about the sport. The only things I really recognized were the uniforms, caps, bats, balls, and gloves that official players wore. That was about it.

That changed when I started working at a school in Hokkaido that was owned by a former baseball player.

Escon Field Stadium showing the Orix Buffaloes Team of Osaka

This year, I was given two tickets for a one-day baseball game at Es Con Field, the home stadium of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. The tickets were sponsored by our school's chairman, and I was both surprised and very thankful to receive them. My boss encouraged me to attend with my husband, Shingo, so I decided to give baseball a try.

And I'm glad I did.

The day finally came when Shingo and I arrived at Es Con Field. He was much more excited than I was. Unlike me, Shingo actually enjoyed watching baseball on TV, and he had even joined a baseball club when he was in elementary school.

As soon as we arrived, I was completely awestruck.

The stadium was enormous and spectacular. On the ground was a huge Fighters logo, surrounded by the names of the team's players. Seeing the names of famous players, including Shohei Ohtani, made me realize just how deeply baseball is connected to Hokkaido and Japan.

Inside the stadium, there were souvenir shops, food stalls, and even an onsen on the upper floors. I honestly wasn't expecting a baseball stadium to have so many things to see and do!

We found our seats and bought some food before the game started. The food was a little pricey, but it was tasty, so I didn't mind too much.

Then the playoffs began.

The atmosphere suddenly became much more exciting. A video introducing the players played on the huge screen, and one by one, the actual players appeared on the field.

I was overwhelmed.

Even though I didn't know much about baseball, seeing the players in front of me felt completely different from watching sports on television. They looked like superstars standing there on the field, surrounded by thousands of cheering fans.

About an hour later, something unexpected happened.

A couple of foreigners sat down next to us, and I soon realized that they were actually my colleagues, Brittany and Casey! None of us knew that we had received tickets for the same game. It was such a funny coincidence, and it made the experience even more memorable.

Unfortunately, our team didn't win that day.

But strangely enough, that didn't really matter.

What mattered was that Shingo and I had experienced something completely new together. For him, it was a sport he already knew and enjoyed. For me, it was my very first time watching a real baseball game in a stadium.

I never expected baseball to become something I would write about, especially after growing up in a country where I knew almost nothing about the sport.

But sometimes, living in Japan gives me opportunities to experience things that were never part of my world before.

And perhaps that's one of the things I enjoy most about living here—the chance to discover something new, one experience at a time.