November 23rd is a national holiday in Japan: Labor Thanksgiving Day. Ask the average person what that means, and they will likely shrug their shoulders or tilt their head to one side and remain silent. But this day also happens to be the day that many NPB teams hold a Fan Appreciation Day, so at least they understand the meaning of thanksgiving!
The Hanshin Tigers always reveal two things at their annual gathering at Koshien Stadium (attended this year by 42,000 fans, apparently): the next season’s uniforms and team slogan. This year was no exception.
First, the bad news. The uniforms are…
…UGLY.
WHAT were they THINKING? The 2019 blacks with yellow lettering were pretty sweet, though perhaps a little hot for the players during the summer months. These, though? I get the feeling they will be the laughingstock of the league, unless the team somehow has a historic year.
Fortunately, they left the home uniforms alone.
Want some good news after staring those hideous uniforms down?
The team slogan is…
… WONDERFUL and PUNDERFUL.
You obviously can read the English parts. The middle is actually two kanji characters. Both can be read “sho” (show). So right there, it’s a pretty cool slogan because “It’s showtime!” sounds pretty natural.
The great part is that the main (black) kanji, 勝, means “win”.
The second (red) kanji, 笑, means “laugh” or “smile.”
The idea, according to manager Akihiro Yano, is this: “After talking to a lot of people, I realized that players play their best if they are having fun, and there’s great power in laughter. In the upcoming year, I hope to see our guys laughing on the field, even in the midst of hard times, but also having even more fun when things are going well, and of course, I want to put a winning team on the field. And when we win, we will be able to enjoy the fans’ smiles and joy, and we can all have a joyous season. That’s why the slogan this year is “It’s Sho/Sho Time, Ore ga Yaru.” We want to make this a slogan that everyone appreciates, and that next season is our best ever, together. See you at the park again next year.”
For the record, the team also did a short home run derby, and though I did not watch it or understand the circumstances under which they were held, I did read that only one player hit a home run: Yusuke Ohyama. The other five guys (Haraguchi, Nakatani, Chikamoto, Yohkawa and Akiyama) all failed to clear the wall.
Don’t worry, though – sho time begins in earnest in 2020!