With the Swallows on the mother of all losing skids, and very little hope on the horizon, now seemed to be as good a time as any to turn to a higher power for help. So where does a desperate Swallows fan go to pray for divine intervention? Harajuku of course…

Harajuku, known to many as a fashionable shopping district, is also home to Meiji Jingu (????). In a baseball context, Meiji Jingu refers to Meiji Jingu Stadium, the Swallows’ home stadium. But in a more general context, Meiji Jingu refers to the Shinto shrine dedicated to the Meiji Emperor and his wife. The stadium is actually considered to be part of the outer precinct of the Shrine. So Meiji Jingu seems like the natural place to pray for good fortune for the team. In fact Swallows’ players are known for praying at Jingu prior to the season’s start. What follows is a illustrated guide on how to pray for good fortune for our team!

A short walk from the station takes you to the first torii (??) leading to Meiji Jingu. Whenever you pass through a torii, bow once before passing.

The first torii

You’ll notice the Chrysanthemum crests on the torii, symbolizing the Shrine’s connection to the Japanese Imperial family. After passing through the torii, you follow a long gravel pathway flanked by trees. The peaceful tranquility contrasts with the hustle and bustle of Harajuku that you left only moments ago.

Halfway along the path, you find casks of wine and sake that have been donated to the Shrine.

Offerings of sake.

Continue along the path and eventually you will pass through another torii.

The second torii

After some more walking you will finally see the final torii leading to the main shrine.

The final torii

But before you go through the torii, you must cleanse your hands with water at the font located outside the gate.

Using a dipper, rinse your left hand, then your right hand. Pour some water onto your left hand, and use that water to rinse your mouth. Finally, rinse your left hand again, and rinse the dipper by letting the remaining water to run down its handle. Never let your lips directly touch the dipper. Now, you are ready to go through the torii and the front gate to enter the grounds. Approach the main building pictured below.

The main shrine.

You can place a monetary offering in the offertory box. 5-yen coins are popular, as they are a symbol of good luck and harmony. Once you’ve made your offering, bow twice, clap twice, make a wish, and bow once again.

To make an even more direct appeal to the deities, you can write out your wishes or words of gratitude on an ema (??), votive tablet.

These tablets can be purchased for 500 yen, and wishes can be written on the back, in any language. Writing utensils and tables are provided. This being a Tokyo Swallows’ site, appeals for the teams success like the one below would be greatly appreciated.

In my chicken scratch I have asked for the Swallows to win again, and for world peace.

After writing out your ema you may take it home, or you may choose to leave it hanging at the shrine on the provided hooks.

Obviously, if you’re going to leave your ema hanging, be careful not to get too personal. If you’re a voyeuristic type, take a look to see what others have written. You may find an ema written by someone famous. I’ve seen ema left by Swallows’ players.

So next time you have some time time to kill before the game, the stadium is a 20-30 minute walk from the shrine, consider going to the shrine to pray for our team. The points of etiquette described in this article generally apply to all Shinto shrines.

Final note: Those of you who have taken a closer look at my ema will notice that it is dated May 21. Obviously the deities have not yet answered my wishes...

Baseball is not what this is about per se, though. No, this post is here to deliver some important news about baseball-watching.

First of all: Boycott Mini-Stop. In their wisdom, the management of the Mini-Stop next to JR Shinanomachi Station, right in our own ‘hood, have decided to shrink their section of Swallows merchandise to one shelf – a shelf it shares with a few Yokohama items and a few Hanshin items – whilst filling the three shelves beneath it with Hanshin Tigers crap.

Yes, that’s right, our local Mini-Stop thinks the coin it gets from hawking plastic tat to visiting tat-fiends is the main consideration. Therefore we say not one yen for any Mini-Stop anywhere. We’ll grant a dispensation if the only konbini where you live happens to be a Mini-Stop, but if you set foot in the Shinanomachi branch, we’re not your friends anymore – go be a Yomiuri fan if you care mostly about what’s easy. There’s a Newdays in the station, where you can get drinks and snacks.

We will not be awkward guests in our own home.

On the plus side, throwing slobbery plastic trash on the field at Jingu continues to be banned (no jet fusen.) If you get off on this obnoxious practice and you’re a Carp fan, so be it. If you’re supporting any other team, just knock it off already. Hiroshimans suffer enough between their muggy summers and their lackluster team – let them keep their own traditions.

Almost as big a plus is the raft of renovations made to the outfield concourse at Jingu. From the pedestrian bridge over Gaien-Higashi-dori (in front of Shinanomachi Station) to the ramp leading up the bleachers, you’ll see new slip-resistant floor coverings. The ramp has also been slightly elongated – presumably in order to make rainy evenings less slippery. At the base of that ramp, you’ll find a new Baskin-Robbins outlet, a concession stand twice as wide as it used to be (shorter lines, one hopes), better stadium maps showing what tasty tidbits are available where, and completely redone toilets. Not only are there more urinals and more sinks, they’re laid out better, making the bathroom 437 times better than it was last year. Why 437? When you’ve been to as many stadium toilets as I have, or have been the outfield men’s room at Jingu as often as I have, you just know. Some of you might say I’m exaggerating, that the toilets are merely 396 times better. I can see that argument.)

The new food items taste about the way you’d expect them to. We continue to recommend waiting until the fifth inning to purchase most edible items, as that is when they are most likely to be hot and less-nasty.

On the potable front, not only has our good friend, the Beer Prince, moved on to better pastures (he graduated from college and got a real job), beer prices have gone up 50 yen across the board, making it now 750 for a draft and 500 for a can or bottle. All the more reason to stop by Newdays (not Mini-Stop!) and BYOB – just keep it hidden.

Of course, everything looks newer and cleaner and is better-marked. The only downside is that the concourse is narrower.There are now some “Eat-in# stalls across from some of the concession stands, but if anyone decides to lay out tarps on the concourse to entertain little kids or get out of the rain, as people have always done, the concourse may well become impassible. My fear, of course, is that these renovations may yet turn out to be another in the long list of examples of Jingu spending a fair bit of money to make things better without bothering to observe the behaviors and patterns of the fans, much less asking what fans would like to see.

Any Tokyo Yakult Swallows decor showing that, in fact, the Swallows have been, for almost 47 years, the stadium’s main tenant? Don’t be silly. Have the old infield fences, with their wide view-obstructing posts, been replaced with more modern ones that protect people’s unsuspecting faces from line-drive fouls while also allowing people to see things without dead spots in their field of vision? Of course not. As I said, Jingu updates things, but refuses to talk to its patrons. Shas it always been, so shall it long be.

All of this said, turnout at preseason games has been better than in previous years, the scoreboard at Jingu says the first two home series of the regular season are already sold out, and you’ll probably be able to relieve yourself and make it back into the stands within an inning, so all is well with the world.

While the site is a little light on content now, it looks like it will be added to throughout the season. Currently accessible are details of “Legend” players of the past as well as notable uniform numbers.

Listed as coming soon is an events section, so hopefully the club will be putting on some decent promotions to get some bums on seats at Jingu this coming season.

All in all, an unusually professional offering from the organisation. Have a look.