Ventforet olay olay!

After getting my hairs cut Saturday, I went to Kose Sports Park with Tiffany to see Ventforet battle the "bad boys" of Hiroshima. I've never witnessed a soccer game outside of the U.S., so expectations were high.

I was not disappointed. What follows is a list of cultural learnings:

1. Remember the Chicago Bulls entrance music that was catchy enough to single-handedly fuel the sale of not one but several sports music compilations called Jock Jams?

Ventforet comes out to, oh, "Pomp And Circumstance." The last time I heard that song, I was in a stadium filled with peopl... Forget it.

2. The various crowd chants are delivered to the tune of American classics such as "Copa Cabana" and, wait for it, "O Christmas Tree." I am not funny or rich enough to make this stuff up.

3. When the chanting stops, it is dead quiet. Granted this only happens for about thirty seconds every thirty minutes, but it's eerie. The next time I go to a game, I might literally drop pins to see if I can hear them. See if I can hear? What is that, synesthesia?

4. Ventforet is french for "wind forest." Why!

5. NO ONE wears anything other than team apparel. No one but Tiffany and Kevin.

6. Ventforet's mascot is a wolf. When little girls wear wolf-ear barrettes, it is cute. (Sidenote: Kawaii is cute, whereas kowai is scary. A fellow JET once made a little girl cry by confusing the two.)

7. When the concession stand runs out of yakitori, the girl behind you in line will yell "yakitori!" and then moan as if her heart has been broken. It's chicken on a stick.

8. When Kevin's stomach processes the concession stand hot dog, the concession stand hot dog will flip out and kill Kevin's stomach.

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Ventforet won the match 2-1 in the 87th minute, thanks to a goal by Alberto de Souza.

As the team circled the stadium for its victory lap, the collective chant of "Alberto!" silenced all existing pins.

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(Photos by Tiffany Minaret Sakato)