A letter to Pacific League TV

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have been a subscriber to PA League TV for the 2016 season and am writing to let you know how pleased I have been with your service.  I hope to renew my subscription for the 2017 season.  Please keep up the good work.

Here are a few changes I would like to suggest.  

Allow controls at full screen.  The present software removes all video controls when the full-screen option is engaged.  This can be frustrating whenever there is need to pause, fast-forward, rewind, or adjust volume.  

Add 10 second forward/reverse buttons.  These would be a huge help in navigating through a game.  

Increase video resolution.  Comparing your service with other sport streaming services, the video resolution is quite low. 

Add condensed games.  MLB VOD service offers games in four formats:  Live Stream, VOD Full Game, VOD Condensed and VOD Highlight.  The highlight film is similar to what you already offer at PA TV.  The condensed film runs 10-15 minutes, depending on the level of action in any particular game.  All of the relevant plays are shown, though not every pitch, nor every out.  There is no commentary on the audio track.  (Search [condensed game] at youtube for examples.)

Add a Facebook share button to video clips.  At present, only a Twitter button is available.  FB is by far a wider network, one which the Pacific League can use to promote its brand through attractive and interesting video clips.  

Hide scores in Archive.  I have sometimes been unable to watch games for a few days and when I go to the archive to find them, I have to make a deliberate effort to cover or avoid looking at scores.  

Thank you for your attention to this letter and thank you again for a wonderful service.  My last wish is that the NPB offer a streaming service for both leagues.

Yours sincerely, 

A letter to NPB

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am an overseas fan of yakyuu who would like to have access to all NPB games, regular and post-season.  At present, I can purchase streaming/VOD rights to games only of the Pacific League.  This means I can watch only half of NPB teams, only half of interleague games, and nothing at all of the Central League Climax Series or the Japan Series.

If you have a look across the internet, you will find the following baseball leagues offer streaming/VOD packages:

• MLB (USA)
• MLB Minor (USA)
• LMP (Mexican Pacific League, winter)
• LMB (Mexican Baseball League, summer)
• CPBL (China Professional Baseball League, Taiwan)
• KBO (Korean Baseball Organization)
• ABL (Australian Baseball League)

Why does a leading country such as Japan still not offer such service to fans worldwide?  If even small leagues on three continents have managed to offer affordable, easy access to _all_ their games, why not the NPB?

For the moment, I rely on fans uploading content to file sharing sites to avail myself of Central League games and the Japan Series.  I would be happy to pay for a quality product, but at the moment there is _none_.  I hope by the 2017 season NPB will resolve what issues remain in order to better serve their customers.

Best regards,

Book Review: Fitts, Robert K. Remembering Japanese Baseball. 2005.

Fitts, Robert K. Remembering Japanese Baseball. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2005.

If you don’t know much of the sport as it developed in Japan, Remembering Japanese Baseball is probably not the best place to start learning.  It consists of transcribed interviews with 25 former players in Japan’s professional baseball league, ranging in time from the pre-war era to the late 1990s.  Of the 25 interviews, only five are with Japanese.  The title is a bit misleading, like a book called Remembering American Baseball containing interviews with players from Latin America and Asia.

Since publishing this collection in 2005, Fitts has gone on to write three books on Japanese baseball history:  a biography of the first American to play in Japan, the first Japanese to play in the US, and an account of Babe Ruth’s visit to Japan.  Remembering Japanese Baseball might be considered Fitts’ first notes for those projects, the groundwork that led him to and informed future research and writing.

Japan Baseball Trip: Buying tickets

Tokyo Giants Ticketing (in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean)

After determining the schedule and making hotel reservations, the next order of business was securing tickets, a process in which I am still engaged.  All Japanese teams have fan clubs that are given priority access to tickets.  Sales to the general public don’t begin until a month or two before game dates (depending on the team), though some Japanese ticketing systems (such as Pia) offer the option to make ticket reservations.  A reservation does not guarantee a ticket, only a place in line.  There are other complications.  Pia, for example, will not accept credit cards issued by a non-Japanese bank.

Planning a baseball trip to Japan

Nippon Professional Baseball

It wasn't a long cherished dream to do a baseball trip to Japan.  It wasn't much of a dream at all. But I'm now just a few weeks away from boarding a plane.  For those who might have such dreams or aspirations, I thought perhaps my experience might be helpful in planning your own trip.

I’m not highly paid, but as a teacher I get long vacations.  Every summer my wife and I visit my family in the US, or hers in Japan.  This summer we’ll be visiting the latter and for the first time in a number of summers I found myself with no research projects or conferences.

While considering what I might do with my time, I bumped into the idea of a baseball tour.  Last summer I had a great day photographing at a US game in Atlanta.  With more available time, I could do the same in Japan many times over. I haven’t visited any Japanese stadiums apart from Fukuoka Dome, at which I attended a couple of Hawks games when we lived in that city.

So, why not?  I may never have a chance like this again.

My trip as scheduled now includes eight games in four stadiums featuring seven teams, plus a day at a fifth stadium for a high school tournament, all over a period of 16 days.