Baseball in Japan is huge, in case you didn't know. It's actually huger than hockey in Canada, I'd wager - even people who aren't into sports are into baseball. I can't make any sweeping generalizations, limited as I am to experiencing only a small corner of Japan, but Canada doesn't have a lot of what Japan does when it comes to team support.
For example, here in Nagoya, we support the Chun'ichi Dragons!
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| Mascots, for whatever reasons, are a koala bear and two fishy type things. |
This means that, when the Dragons are doing well, clothing and department stores actually have Dragon Sales - 10% off selected merch, all because the sports team is doing well. In those stores (as well as in the subway, of all places), they play
the official Dragons song/cheer - the crowd sings this at baseball games, led by a ... not a cheerleading squad, that's the wrong idea entirely, but they have a team of supporters who basically lead the cheers. Each baseball player has his own individual cheer/theme song. That, my friend, is
awesome. This summer, you could buy yukata that were Chun'ichi Dragons-themed. The colours, PLUS the koala bear mascot patterned all over it.
In any case, I can never get the song out of my head, and I find myself humming it at work, regardless of the fact that I have yet to watch a single minute of baseball whilst in this country. Ah well.
...
がんばろう、がんばろう、ドラゴンズ ～ doo doo doo de doo da dooo!
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