Fans return to Japanese stadiums

Fans return to Japanese stadiums

Attendance at baseball and football games capped at 5,000 for now

Fans are spaced widely apart as they watch a baseball game between Chunichi and Hiroshima in Nagoya on Friday after stadiums reopened to spectators. (AFP Photo)
Fans are spaced widely apart as they watch a baseball game between Chunichi and Hiroshima in Nagoya on Friday after stadiums reopened to spectators. (AFP Photo)

TOKYO: Japan on Friday started allowing up to 5,000 people to attend sporting and other events, despite a recent rise in the number of coronavirus cases.

The country’s professional baseball and football leagues began admitting spectators to games in line with government guidelines that raised the cap on spectators from 1,000.

Friday evening’s schedule featured the Central League-leading Yomiuri Giants facing the Yakult Swallows among six Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) games, although their game in Kobe was rained out.

An hour after the baseball games started, football’s J-League welcomed back fans at a second-division match between Fagiano Okayama and Giravanz Kitakyushu.

Hotaka Yamakawa, who has led the NPB Pacific League in home runs the past two seasons, homered in the first inning at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium for the Seibu Lions in their game against the Lotte Marines.

“Being able to play in front of everyone gives you a feeling of joy,” he said.

Unable to take part in the traditional organised chanting and cheering that accompany every at-bat in Asian baseball games, the fans responded individually to each play, giving the games more of the feeling of ball games played in the United States.

At Koshien Stadium near Osaka, fans who had been asked to refrain from shouting, responded to a home run by the hometown Hanshin Tigers’ Koji Chikamoto by clapping and banging megaphones together.

Football fans will get a chance to see their favorite J-League first-division clubs in action on the weekend.

The move comes as coronavirus infections are on the rise again in Japan, with Tokyo reporting a daily record of 224 people infected on Thursday, leaving many people cautious of a second wave of infections in the capital.

The nationwide tally now stands at over 20,700, excluding 712 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined in Yokohama near Tokyo in February.

In welcoming fans back into stadiums, NPB and J-League teams will check the temperatures of spectators and require them to wear masks inside the stadiums. Clubs are also asking fans to refrain from traditional cheering practices thought to increase the risk of infection.

The number of spectators admitted to each game is currently limited to 5,000 people, with a plan to increase that amount to up to 50% of a venue’s capacity on Aug 1, depending on the status of infections across the country.

The decision will be left up to each club, however, with the Nippon Ham Fighters in NPB’s Pacific League already declaring they will stay with the 5,000 limit for their game against the Orix Buffaloes on Aug 1 at Sapporo Dome.

The 2020 NPB season began behind closed doors on June 19 after a three-month delay. The J-League first division resumed last week following a roughly four-month hiatus.

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