Las Vegas Sun

By jenna kohler · March 25, 2008 · 2:31 PM

TOKYO--- I’m wondering what happened to last Thursday, but I do know it is gone for ever and it felt like it never happened.

The Oakland A’s charter left Phoenix for Tokyo on Wednesday the 19th and landed at Norita Airport near midnight on the 20th Tokyo time.

The 12 hour flight wasn’t bad. I’ll never complain about flying on a charter, and the Japan Airlines 747 was half-full which allowed plenty of room to move around.

The highlight of our first full day in Tokyo was a welcome reception that was thrown by the Yomiuri Giants, the A’s opponents in the first of two exhibition games leading up to the season opening series against the Red Sox. The Giants are considered the Yankees of Japan and used to be known as the Tokyo Giants before taking the name of the Yomiuri media conglomerate that owns the team.

The highlight of the reception for me was the sushi. I was standing at tall table with a dozen or so very distinguished, impeccably dressed Japanese businessmen, and while immersed in the sushi I looked up to find all eyes were focused on me. Suddenly, all of the men broke into huge smiles and began to bow my way in acknowledgment of my adroit handling of the chopsticks. I’m thrilled by small things and that was a thrill.

I wasn’t so lucky when it came to my concession stand experience inside the Tokyo Dome the next night before the game against the Giants. As I was in line, I was spotted by an A’s fan serving in the military over here. It was a good break because he coached me on what to say. “Kudasai” means please as you are asking for something. I ordered a delightful chicken and rice dish, but I then began to panic because I couldn’t find anything that looked like a soft drink. I spotted an orange cup and pointed to it, convinced in must be orange juice. I took the food and the drink into the radio booth and after a couple of bites opened the cup and took a big gulp. The orange juice was actually sake, which was probably appropriate since the broadcast began at 3 a.m. Pacific Time. Our engineer in San Francisco, John Trinidad, joked that he came straight from last call into the studio.

The Tokyo Dome is a funky place. A cross between the Metrodome and Tropicana Field, which is to say it isn’t very nice. The roof is just like the Metrodome ‹ air supported and dirty white, just about the color of a baseball. In fact, the Hanshin center fielder, Akahoshi, lost a ball in the roof that led to a gift double in Sunday afternoon’s second exhibition game for the A’s, a 10-2 win over the Tigers.

The array of food inside the Dome is impressive. One of the columnists for the English-language Daily Yomiuri was bemoaning the absence of pizza during the 2007 Giants season, a problem rectified by the appearance of a California Pizza Kitchen franchise on the lower concourse. You can also get hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and KFC. And, for opening night against the Red Sox, there must have been 5,000 boxes of sushi available at every concession stand.

We have done plenty of sightseeing. My impression of Tokyo, and I know it is terrible to generalize, is that it is New York with civility. The locals have been warm and helpful and clearly in love with baseball. We took a wonderful tour on Monday of the Meiji Shrine and walked breathtakingly close to the Imperial Palace in the heart of the city.

The tour ended with a visit to the ancient area known as Asakusa. Dying of hunger, we found tiny upstairs hole-in-the-wall buffet, which was only 980 yen per person, which translates to about $10. You can find dining value if you hunt for it, and can also spend a fortune at the nicer establishments. A’s closer Huston Street went out for steak on Monday night and enjoyed a Kobe beef masterpiece main course that he said was as good a meal as he’s ever had. And, when you come from Austin, Texas, you know your beef.