Rules (March 2009)
Since being in Japan, Gary and I have learned that the Japanese way of doing things are A LOT different then what we are used to. The Japanese have a system of living life called “shikata”, it is a foundation of rules and behaviors that have been passed down for hundreds of years. They are programmed from day one to abide the “Japanese way of doing things.” It is one reason the Japanese are so successful. But for two good ole boys from the U.S., it gets a little complicated. Here are just a few of the rules we have learned while being here.
Everyday Rules
1. You MUST say “good morning”(Ohayou-gozaimas), and respond with “good morning“, to EVERY person you see, EVERY morning. I ran the numbers, say 25 guys get on a bus in the morning, that’s 1250 “good mornings” within 5 minutes. This also applies after games or practices. You must say “thank you for your effort today”, (Ohscoti-ohsamadesta) to every person as you leave.
2. After about 2 weeks of me and Gary blabbing on the bus everyday, we realized we were the ONLY people talking. The players consider the bus ride a time for relaxation and reflection. No talking…just whispering. Oops.
3. The Japanese are very “rank” oriented by age. Age determines your seniority and rank. You MUST let older players and coaches off the elevator first, thru doors first, in the food room first, etc. This is no problem IF you know how old each guy is.
4. The Japanese keep “indoors” and “outdoors” completely separate. Therefore, the shoes pose a big problem. You MUST take off your shoes whenever entering most restaurants, and you MUST bring “indoor” shoes to the gym. This has prevented me and Gary from working out, which is extremely frustrating. At the park we have shoes for stretching, shoes for BP, shoes for the locker room, shoes for the weight room, and shoes for the shower and food room. If you wear your “indoor” shoes “outdoors”, you can no longer use those “indoors!” You can imagine the planning ahead you have to do to stay on top of this!
5. There are assigned seats EVERYWHERE! (But they don’t have names and you have no clue which one is suppose to be yours.) The bus is the same seating every time. There are assigned lockers at home (standard) and at every stadium we play at on the road (no nameplates). There are assigned seats in the DUGOUT at home AND at each one of the stadiums we play at. Me and Gary kept getting dirty looks because our “stuff” was in someone else’s “spot“. Each player sits in “his” seat with “his” equipment in front of him. So and me and Gary stand there until everyone has seated and then find an empty seat.
Rules at the Park
1. The clubhouse is organized chaos. Everything has its place, and you must know where everything goes. First of all, you cant have ANY of your uniforms in your locker. They must be in the “uniform cubicle” at the front of the clubhouse. This seems pretty easy…but we have 18!!!! Uniforms!!! We have 3 different kinds(home, away, and auxiliary), but 6 versions of each uniform. Some have advertising patches, some have 40th anniversary patches, some have both, and some have neither!! And you MUST be wearing the right one! Not to mention the 10 hats, two helmets, 2 fleeces, 4 wind breakers, 2 hooded sweat shirts, 4 BP tops, 4 auxiliary BP tops, 4 pairs of shorts, and 4 cold weather coats. And that’s just the team stuff. There’s the personals on top of that (sliders, socks, jocks, undershirts, sleeves, gloves, wristbands, batting gloves, bats, cleats, etc. etc.) My locker is out of control. What happened to the good ole days of 2 uni’s, a bat, and a glove?
2. Your locker MUST be clean! You get a yellow card in your locker if it isn’t. After 2 yellow cards, the third offense is a red card which means you must go in front a board/panel and receive your monetary punishment.
3. Batting practice is very structured, but we are somewhat used to that. It is all on the clock with various stations set up. Once you are done hitting your round of BP, you MUST fix the holes that you made in the dirt while hitting. Once you take your last groundball during BP, you MUST end with a fly ball, and then rake your position (if it’s a dirt field, which is rare). And if you are starting at a certain position, you MUST work on your defense the entire BP at that position (come on…I play 6 positions!).
4. Once the game starts, if you are not in the lineup, you MUST put your equipment in the “swing room” (little room behind the dugout). So as not to have your stuff get in the way of anybody else.
5. Also, If you are not starting, you MUST go down the right field line(or left field depending), and stretch during the 3rd, 5th, and 7th innings.
6. You MUST say “BACK” from the dugout when there is a pick-off move on one of the base runner. (you get fined if you don’t)
7. You MUST high five (or pat on the butt), every person that does ANYTHING good during the game. (Hit, walk, score, HR, drive in a run, make a good play, throw a scoreless inning, strike someone out etc.)
8. You MUST be on the bench when a teammate returns to the dugout after hitting a homerun. No exceptions. I’ve seen guys running from the bathroom thru the clubhouse to the dugout with there pants around there knees!
9. You MUST acknowledge the fans after a hit, RBI, good play, etc. They will chant your name until you wave at them. (I have yet to do this because I just learned this yesterday. I just thought the fans were being nice. They prolly hate me because I have been ignoring them.)
At the Apartment
1. You MUST park your bike in the assigned parking spot, with the assigned sticker on the handlebars. If you don’t, you are shot on site. We learned that you cant just park your bike anywhere. Within 24 hours of purchasing our bikes, we both got “parking” tickets for parking in a paid parking lot! Ooops.
2. Japan is a VERY clean country. I often wonder how they do it. I found out it is a very serious offense if you get caught littering. They don’t have room in this country for vast landfills like we do in the states. So recycling is very important. Every public trashcan has multiple holes to put various waste. I made the mistake of asking where I put my trash from my apartment. After an hour tour with our landlord, my head was spinning! We have 15 different garbage deposits!!! There is a pile for the combustible, non combustible, the plastic bottles(with out top), green glass bottle, brown glass bottles, clear glass bottles, newspapers, magazines, aerosol spray cans, batteries, cardboard, metals, and on and on! “Are you suppose to have 15 trashcans in your apartment?” The landlord said if we didn’t know where an item went, to just put it in the cardboard box in the corner of the room. Gary, “Can I just put it ALL right there?“ The guy DID NOT laugh.
I’m sure there are many more to learn, but this is all I can think of for now….
To be continued…
Chase
Everyday Rules
1. You MUST say “good morning”(Ohayou-gozaimas), and respond with “good morning“, to EVERY person you see, EVERY morning. I ran the numbers, say 25 guys get on a bus in the morning, that’s 1250 “good mornings” within 5 minutes. This also applies after games or practices. You must say “thank you for your effort today”, (Ohscoti-ohsamadesta) to every person as you leave.
2. After about 2 weeks of me and Gary blabbing on the bus everyday, we realized we were the ONLY people talking. The players consider the bus ride a time for relaxation and reflection. No talking…just whispering. Oops.
3. The Japanese are very “rank” oriented by age. Age determines your seniority and rank. You MUST let older players and coaches off the elevator first, thru doors first, in the food room first, etc. This is no problem IF you know how old each guy is.
4. The Japanese keep “indoors” and “outdoors” completely separate. Therefore, the shoes pose a big problem. You MUST take off your shoes whenever entering most restaurants, and you MUST bring “indoor” shoes to the gym. This has prevented me and Gary from working out, which is extremely frustrating. At the park we have shoes for stretching, shoes for BP, shoes for the locker room, shoes for the weight room, and shoes for the shower and food room. If you wear your “indoor” shoes “outdoors”, you can no longer use those “indoors!” You can imagine the planning ahead you have to do to stay on top of this!
5. There are assigned seats EVERYWHERE! (But they don’t have names and you have no clue which one is suppose to be yours.) The bus is the same seating every time. There are assigned lockers at home (standard) and at every stadium we play at on the road (no nameplates). There are assigned seats in the DUGOUT at home AND at each one of the stadiums we play at. Me and Gary kept getting dirty looks because our “stuff” was in someone else’s “spot“. Each player sits in “his” seat with “his” equipment in front of him. So and me and Gary stand there until everyone has seated and then find an empty seat.
Rules at the Park
1. The clubhouse is organized chaos. Everything has its place, and you must know where everything goes. First of all, you cant have ANY of your uniforms in your locker. They must be in the “uniform cubicle” at the front of the clubhouse. This seems pretty easy…but we have 18!!!! Uniforms!!! We have 3 different kinds(home, away, and auxiliary), but 6 versions of each uniform. Some have advertising patches, some have 40th anniversary patches, some have both, and some have neither!! And you MUST be wearing the right one! Not to mention the 10 hats, two helmets, 2 fleeces, 4 wind breakers, 2 hooded sweat shirts, 4 BP tops, 4 auxiliary BP tops, 4 pairs of shorts, and 4 cold weather coats. And that’s just the team stuff. There’s the personals on top of that (sliders, socks, jocks, undershirts, sleeves, gloves, wristbands, batting gloves, bats, cleats, etc. etc.) My locker is out of control. What happened to the good ole days of 2 uni’s, a bat, and a glove?
2. Your locker MUST be clean! You get a yellow card in your locker if it isn’t. After 2 yellow cards, the third offense is a red card which means you must go in front a board/panel and receive your monetary punishment.
3. Batting practice is very structured, but we are somewhat used to that. It is all on the clock with various stations set up. Once you are done hitting your round of BP, you MUST fix the holes that you made in the dirt while hitting. Once you take your last groundball during BP, you MUST end with a fly ball, and then rake your position (if it’s a dirt field, which is rare). And if you are starting at a certain position, you MUST work on your defense the entire BP at that position (come on…I play 6 positions!).
4. Once the game starts, if you are not in the lineup, you MUST put your equipment in the “swing room” (little room behind the dugout). So as not to have your stuff get in the way of anybody else.
5. Also, If you are not starting, you MUST go down the right field line(or left field depending), and stretch during the 3rd, 5th, and 7th innings.
6. You MUST say “BACK” from the dugout when there is a pick-off move on one of the base runner. (you get fined if you don’t)
7. You MUST high five (or pat on the butt), every person that does ANYTHING good during the game. (Hit, walk, score, HR, drive in a run, make a good play, throw a scoreless inning, strike someone out etc.)
8. You MUST be on the bench when a teammate returns to the dugout after hitting a homerun. No exceptions. I’ve seen guys running from the bathroom thru the clubhouse to the dugout with there pants around there knees!
9. You MUST acknowledge the fans after a hit, RBI, good play, etc. They will chant your name until you wave at them. (I have yet to do this because I just learned this yesterday. I just thought the fans were being nice. They prolly hate me because I have been ignoring them.)
At the Apartment
1. You MUST park your bike in the assigned parking spot, with the assigned sticker on the handlebars. If you don’t, you are shot on site. We learned that you cant just park your bike anywhere. Within 24 hours of purchasing our bikes, we both got “parking” tickets for parking in a paid parking lot! Ooops.
2. Japan is a VERY clean country. I often wonder how they do it. I found out it is a very serious offense if you get caught littering. They don’t have room in this country for vast landfills like we do in the states. So recycling is very important. Every public trashcan has multiple holes to put various waste. I made the mistake of asking where I put my trash from my apartment. After an hour tour with our landlord, my head was spinning! We have 15 different garbage deposits!!! There is a pile for the combustible, non combustible, the plastic bottles(with out top), green glass bottle, brown glass bottles, clear glass bottles, newspapers, magazines, aerosol spray cans, batteries, cardboard, metals, and on and on! “Are you suppose to have 15 trashcans in your apartment?” The landlord said if we didn’t know where an item went, to just put it in the cardboard box in the corner of the room. Gary, “Can I just put it ALL right there?“ The guy DID NOT laugh.
I’m sure there are many more to learn, but this is all I can think of for now….
To be continued…
Chase
posted by CHASE at
9:30 PM
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