Letter from Japan

After I sent an email to my friend Hitoshi in Japan about the end of the SF Giants' season, he replied:

In Japan Hanshin Tigers won Central League Championship. This year they built a tall fence to prevent enthusiastic fans from junping off the bridge into the Dotonbori (a very dirty stream). But more than 60 climed the fence and jumped into the stream.

About two thousand fans who couldn't get tickets were watching the game on a large screen by the entrance to the ball park. The moment the Tigers won the champinship many of them let balloons go, which was strictly prohibited. The next moment the screen was turned off and many of them cried and asked for pardon. That was really funny.

Apparently it's a tradition for Tigers fants to jump into the Dotonbori. I found this account (scroll about halfway down to the section "Wild Scenes at Dotonbori") of the origin of the tradition in 1985. A 2003 story from the Japan Times is also informative.