Hanshin fans swarm the Osaka streets. (Jiji)

East Versus West
The Hanshin Tigers were founded in 1935, making them the second oldest pro baseball team in Japan behind the Yomiuri Giants (founded a year earlier). Based in the Kobe-Osaka area, the largest metropolitan region in western Japan, since their foundation the Tigers have been fierce rivals with the Giants, who are based in Tokyo in eastern Japan and also play in the Central League. Since World War II the Giants have won 30 CL titles compared to the Tigers' four, however, and this is how the dame-tora got their unfortunate nickname.

Hanshin fans were naturally delighted that their team had ended its long barren spell. On the night of September 15, the streets around Dotonbori Bridge in Osaka's Minami district were filled with fans shouting "Banzai!" (Hooray!) and banging plastic Tigers megaphones, which is a common way for Japanese baseball fans to express support. The procession of delirious fans stretched over several streets and as far as the Midosuji road. By the next morning about 5,300 people had made celebratory dives off the bridge into the Dotonbori River.

Stores Hold Commemorative Sales
Department stores, convenience stores, supermarkets, and other retailers began holding sales to mark the Tigers' victory on the morning of September 16. Some shops offered items for sale at ¥77 ($0.70 at ¥110 to the dollar) in honor of Hoshino, whose uniform number is 77, while others offered grab bags packed with discounted clothes and other items. The Hanshin department store, located in Osaka's Kita Ward, held a week-long sale in which 70% of its merchandise was discounted by up to 50%. The store reported sales of about ¥6 billion ($55 million) in eight days, almost three times as much as in the same period last year.

Daimaru and Takashimaya have been holding victory sales at seven stores around the country. Major convenience store operator Lawson, meanwhile, has marked the Tigers' triumph by selling commemorative boxed lunches at 2,300 outlets in western Japan. Supermarket chain Aeon has been offering food products at ¥77 in 350 of its stores, while Ito Yokado held a similar sale at eight of its stores in Osaka and nearby Hyogo and Okayama Prefectures. A total of some 10,000 shops, mainly in western Japan, held Tigers-related sales.

According to estimates by UFJ Institute Ltd., the economic benefits of the Tigers' victory could be up to ¥635.5 billion ($5.8 billion) nationwide, raising hopes that it could help spark an economic recovery. The former director of the Resona Research Institute, Kunisada Koichi, a self-confessed Tigers fanatic, believes the benefits could be even greater: "The effect will be bigger than the figures produced by think-tanks. . . . With any other team, there would be victory sales, and that would be the end of it. But with the Tigers, people have been spending money on merchandise saying 'This is our year' and on celebrations since about May. The boom will last until next year."

Overcoming Despair
Kunisada points to the deeper significance of the Tigers' victory, describing the team as "the alter ego of small and medium-sized enterprises struggling with the economic downturn and of salarymen haunted by lay-offs" and claims the team's triumph will give these groups courage. In a book, Professor Inoue Shoichi of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies has described Hanshin fans as "a group of people who have lived on self-scorn, despair, and faint hope." It is no wonder, then, that these fans have been celebrating their team's rare taste of success so joyously.

Praise has been heaped upon Hoshino, the man who spearheaded the Tigers' revival, and his bold leadership has even been held up as a model for the revival of the Japanese economy. Minister of State (Financial Services, Economic and Fiscal Policy) Takenaka Heizo, known as a passionate Hanshin fan, said, "The reform of Hanshin under Hoshino is a model of structural reform." Terada Chiyono, co-chairperson of the Kansai Association of Corporate Executives, praised the Tigers' achievements: "The spirit of the manager and the players was the biggest factor behind the team's triumph. This has lessons for the running of any organization, including corporate management."

The Tigers and the Pacific League winners, the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, will begin the seven-game Japan Series on October 18, and Hanshin fans have high hopes that their team can triumph again to become Japan's number one.

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Copyright (c) 2004 Web Japan. Edited by Japan Echo Inc. based on domestic Japanese news sources. Articles presented here are offered for reference purposes and do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the Japanese Government.