Baseball

Hanshin Tigers Fans Elated, in Tears after 2nd-Ever Japan Series Win

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:15 JST, November 6, 2023

OSAKA — Hanshin Tigers fans exploded in joy as their team took its first Japan Series title in 38 years at Kyocera Dome Osaka on Sunday.

“I cheered for them believing this would be my last chance to see [their victory] in my lifetime,” said a 65-year-old man from Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, who also saw the team clinch the 1985 series. “I got to see them win, and now I can’t stop crying.”

A 63-year-old man from Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, was also in tears. “It was my dream to see the showdown between the two teams,” he said. “Orix fought really hard, too. I want to thank the players of both teams.”

Around Ebisu Bridge, which straddles Osaka’s Dotonbori River and is known to attract Tigers fans after a triumph, many sang the team’s fight song, “Rokko Oroshi.” Some jumped into the river from the sidewalk.

The Osaka prefectural police deployed about 1,300 officers — as many as for the Tigers’ league championship game in September — to maintain order in the area, and there were no major incidents.

“I believed they would win,” said a 22-year-old university student from Hannan, Osaka Prefecture. “It was great to be in Dotonbori to celebrate their victory.”