Have you been to a Lions game lately at Seibu Dome?
Fellow Japan Times columnist ("When East Marries West") Tom Dillon and I venture out to the Tokorozawa ball yard once or twice a year for a "baseball and beer" night. It is one of the few times during the season when I attend a ball game as a fan; sitting in the stands rather than in the press box and enjoying the action from a different perspective.
We saw the Lions play the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on the hot and humid night of Aug. 7, a Wednesday, joining more than 18,000 spectators. After a couple of brewskies bought from sweat-drenched beer girl vendors, I found myself looking around, up at the roof, out on the field, thinking about how much the stadium had changed since Lions were bought by the Seibu Railways and moved from Fukuoka in 1979.