Kansai and Hanshin Tigers

Some basics first. Kansai or Kinki is a region in the southern half of the Honshu island (Japan's biggest island). For those more in the known of Japanese Geography, it's defined as the cities (fu) of Osaka and Kyoto and the prefectures (ken) of Hyogo, Mie, Nara, Shiga and Wakayama. For some it's only the Kei-Han-Shin (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe) region, but I won't discuss that.

Well, I believe that's one of the best places in Japan to live. And many people I know agree with that. As far as I know, natural disasters don't strike here so often and transportation between cities is relatively good (for example, the frequency of shinkaisoku - "super rapid" - trains if compared with the Tokai region). But probably the best thing is that people are more friendly. I haven't been to other regions for long, but that's my impression so far. People tell more jokes naturaly, are more expressive, and even the local dialect, the Kansai-ben (that I'm trying to learn), is more expressive and funnier than standard Japanese (a.k.a. Tokyo dialect).

Another interesting thing about Kansai is the relationship with a local baseball team: the Hanshin Tigers. From the book "Colloquial Kansai Japanese" (PALTER, DC; SLOTSVE. Tuttle Publishing, 1995): "Living in Kansai is synonymous with rooting for the Hanshin Tigers. Even people who hate baseball will say they hope Hanshin wins. (...) This is not to say that Hanshin is a good team (...). Most years find them languishing in the cellar of the Central League, which only seems to increase their lovability as the underdog." A little exaggerate, maybe. But not by much... "The Tigers home stadium is Koushien in Nishinomiya, between Osaka and Kobe and near the base of Mt. Rokko." And it just happens that Nishinomiya is a sister city of my hometown in Brazil: Londrina. (Which reminds me that I should go there someday...)

And one might ask why I'm telling all that. Well, it's a different information about Japan, isn't it? But there's another reason. Hanshin won the Central League this year and, as a result, many stores in the area are doing bargain sales. Some friends are taking the oportunity to buy things, like last Sunday when one was showing some "fall clothes" or Monday, when I went shopping with another friend (actually I ended up just watching... Don't even know why...). Think I should try buying at least some winter clothing, although money is short after summer vacation (ah... that was the reason...). Sales will go until next Monday, I guess.

Just another curiosity about Hanshin Tigers. When the team won the Japan Series for the first time a strange episode occured. A statue of Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken (some franchising "McDonald's-like") was thrown into the Doutonbori River (in Osaka). There're many versions of this story. The following is extracted from the "Colloquial Kansai Japanese"

"When Hanshin won the Japan Series for the first time in 1985, the fans went crazy. One group gathered at the Nampa Bashi over the Dotonbori River, and as people called out the names of their favorite players, someone would jump into the river. However, when they called out the American player, Randy Bass, who helped lead the team's success, there were no foreigners in the crowd to represent him. The closest thing to a foreigner they could find was the Colonel Sanders statue in front of the nearby KFC restaurant, which they threw into the water."

"The restaurant never replaced the statue, and soon afterwards Hanshin went into a deep slump. Some people claimed this was due to a jinx wrought by the Colonel himself. When, in 1992, it looked like Hanshin would win the Central League pennant, the shop finally replaced the statue. However, knowing the character of Hanshin fans, the management chained the statue to the front of the restaurant. Unfortunatelly, the team blew the last few critical games and failed to win the pennant. Maybe they shouldn't have kept the Colonel chained down."

And, this year, when it seemed like Hanshin would win the Central League (something that did happen this time), some sort of "barrier" was put at the Nampa Bashi to prevent people from jumping into the river. Even so, I heard that some did jump, although less than previously...