If your summer vacation takes you to northern Japan this year, be sure to make a stop in Sendai and see a game played by the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles at Fullcast Stadium Miyagi. I had watched on TV games played there earlier in the year and decided to take a day-and-a-half trip to see for myself what is going on with Japan's newest team and what I had heard was an exciting experience in a cozy, revitalized ballpark.

The Tohoku Shinkansen's Hayate train gets you from JR Tokyo Station to Sendai in an hour and 48 minutes and costs 10,500 yen for a reserved seat. I went on Friday afternoon, May 27, expecting to see that night's game against Hanshin and catch a second interleague clash between the Eagles and Tigers the following afternoon. Unfortunately, heavy rain from thunderstorms washed out the nighter, but the Saturday matinee was played under brilliant blue skies with warm and sunny weather. And the Eagles won!

If you stay overnight, try to find a hotel out of the East Exit of Sendai Station, or on the right side as you head away from Tokyo toward Morioka. The place I stayed was near JR Tsutsujigaoka Station, a stop from Sendai on the Senseki Line and one stop before Miyaginohara Station which serves the neighborhood at Fullcast. There is also a shuttle bus between Sendai Station and the stadium, and the fare is only 100 yen. It is convenient on the way but necessarily jam-packed on the way back after the game.