The year 2013 will mark a season of notable anniversaries for Japanese baseball franchises and ballparks. It is Japanese year Heisei 25, the 25th anniversary for Tokyo Dome, Japan's first indoor stadium, and the 20th for Fukuoka Yahoo Japan Dome, the country's first-and still the only-retractable roof facility for baseball.

I can recall a time in 1982, in the days before cable and satellite TV, when a friend came to my house in Tachikawa, and we were listening to an American League game on the former Far East Network radio station. The Minnesota Twins were playing the Kansas City Royals at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, and my friend said, "They should build a dome like that in Tokyo for the (Yomiuri) Giants and (Nippon Ham) Fighters games."

"Where would they put it?" I asked.