My apologies for being lazy… I’ve been meaning to write these next couple of posts for some time.

Last Saturday was a big “Congratulations” parade to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters Baseball team. The parade was celebrating a great run that ended in First ever National League Championships for the hams. The entire city (it seemed) was there to cheer the team on. From their first game victory to their last, Sapporo Ham Fighters fans are dedicated to supporting their team. There are few things here in Sapporo that “Sapporians” are devoted too, it seems: Sapporo Beer, Skiing, and their Baseball & Soccer teams.

The parade started at Sapporo Station (Sapporo’s HQ) and went down past Odori, the arcade, and finally to Susukino. The whole team and the hams coach (a white Texan guy) were the guests of honor and parade was just for them only. That means that once the team pasted by the parade was over. I went and was amazed by what I saw… Here’s what happened:

I got on the train and headed down to Sapporo Station where the parade was going to start. There were hundreds of people crammed on the street sidewalks ready for a good show. Apparently, as one told me, they had been there since last night! LAST NIGHT IN SAPPORO IN NOVEMBER! Talk about devotion!

Anyway… the parade started and jumped on the subway to Susukino so get a good look at ‘em. I saw some hoopala going on down the street, and then I saw them in their victorious glory. It was pretty good show… The music, the screams, the “ARIGATOO’s” everything! The amazing part really wasn’t the Parade, but what took place afterwards.

The team went by and the confetti fell… it fell and fell… then after they went by and the people (the spectators) got on their hands and knees and picked up every single confetti piece. It was amazing to watch. I got mostly photos of that… Later I found out that Sapporo has a street law on the books that says that stuff like confetti blocks traffic so if they didn’t pick it up in like 3 or 4 hours then the parade organizers would be law breakers. So the parade organizers asked the public to assist and they did… they helped out. Even I picked up a handful just to not look out of place, but imagine it people! Macy Day Parade in NYC or Thanksgiving parade! People throwing confetti and then picking it up! Yeah Right!

Well that’s what happened and if you don’t believe me then believe the pics.

Simply fantastic! more pics in the web-album..

~J

Read More