The Hanshin Tigers held their annual Fan Appreciation Day on Saturday, December 5, in front of a remote audience that exceeded Koshien’s capacity. Many of the features were similar to what they do year in and year out, but there were a few things added, plus a few glaring omissions.
First, the new slogan for next season was announced at the top of the show, and here it is:
The reading, according to manager Akihiro Yano, is “Cho- Cho- Cho-” which is the on-yomi (Chinese reading) of the red characters. Including the black hiragana that intersperse the kanji, it can also be read “Idomu Koeru Itadaki e” which loosely translates to “Challenge, Surpass, (to the) Summit.”
Yano says the team needs to challenge themselves on all kinds of levels, constantly pursuing excellence in all that they do. They need to surpass each other and the opposition, and head for the top — under him, the team finished 3rd (2019), 2nd (2020) and the only place to go from there is 1st.
I like it, I must say. Catchy, easy to remember, and meaningful. The yellow lines in the background also streak upwards, like someone ascending a mountain, which is hopefully what the team will do. “What will the view look like from the top?” commented Yano, “We want to experience the landscape from up there together.”
As I said earlier, the usual riff-raff (talk show, songs, and players competing in trivial games — this year it was bumper bubble ball matches in which they tried to knock each other out of the way) was the main course. They also included a lot of footage of some of the main players on the team, some fan-favorite player celebrations, plus video-recorded comments from the retired legend, Kyuji Fujikawa.
They did not, to many people’s disappointment, have a rookie parade in which last year’s draftees came out dressed in all sorts of embarrassing costumes. That part did not bother me so much, as I did not feel like it was terribly essential to the event.
What I missed was the unveiling of next year’s uniforms. If they had any intention of changing it, the debut of the new threads should have happened at this event. Since there was no such display, I am forced to assume they are going to wear those same ugly road uniforms in 2021, which is surely no way to say “thanks” to the fans, is it?
I guess I can just be thankful that I go almost exclusively to home games, where I do not have to see the gray-dations in person, and also that very few fans wear them in the stands at home games. For those who live outside of Kansai, be ready for another year of perhaps the worst uniforms in all of NPB.