Category: Sendai

Sendai 89ers Marketing.

8/14/2012

Every season we collect lots of team merchandise to remember our time abroad. This past season was a little different because instead of our typical team t-shirts and scarves we were able to snatch up lots of different goodies... teddy bears, keychains, buttons, and wrist bands just to mention a few. Not only did the Sendai 89ers have great merchandise but they also had some neat advertising around the city.

Dan Fitzgerald bear!

You know I had to get one! They also had little bear keychains with Dan's number.

Supporting my husband with my Fitzgerald sweatband and button!

Dan Fitzgerald buttons. Collect all three!

Trading cards, button and a Fitzgerald sweat band.

Advertising for the three sport teams in Sendai at the main subway station.

Another team advertisment on the subway.

Subway ticket machine with the Sendai 89ers logo.

Posters at the arena

plus awesome caricatures!

My mom posing with Dan's caricature when she came to visit us in March.

Ever wonder how to write Fitzgerald in Japanese?! Check out Dan's credit card!

Dan in front of a Sendai 89ers vending machine

Nothing like a puzzle of the team! Love it!

Sendai 89ers Burger at Happiness Restaurant near the Haleo Dome. Oishii!

Sendai City Gymnasium home game.

Sendai 89ers Cheerleaders, they are awesome dancers!

View of Aoba City Gymnasium. Sendai had two home arenas.

Dan signing autographs after the game.

Sendai 89ers fans cheering on the team.

Sendai has truly great fans!

Dan's parents and brother after the game. Thank you to Yusuke Hotta, the Sendai 89ers photographer, for sharing this wonderful photo with us.

Group photo of all the players, fans, and boosters after the last home game at Sendai City Gymnasium.

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Exploring Sendai.

12/12/2011

1 Comment

When Dan was at an away game in Okinawa, I got a chance to venture out of Izumi and explore the Osaki Hachimangu Shrine in Sendai city. The shrine was simply stunning! It was exactly what I was missing in our everyday life in Japan; the old beautiful Japanese architecture and the sacred traditions of the far East. I even got a private tour inside of the shrine! I was so taken back by their generosity and willingness to show me around. I only asked if I would be able to go inside to take a look, they agreed but I got the two hands crossed for photography (meaning no pictures inside, haha) A Shinto priest as well as an English translator gave me a mini tour.

The inside was simply beautiful, rich in color, as well as traditions and spirituality. The woodwork was painted over 400 years ago and has not been touched since, only the outside of the shrine has been restored. The shrine itself was constructed between 1604 and 1607. While inside, the priest and the translator showed me the proper way to pray: you bow twice, clap your hands twice, make a sincere wish , and bow one more time. (I bowed twice at the end and they started giggling... hey, gotta love the foreigner trying to fit in, ha)

Osaki Hachimangu Shrine

Sacred places are typically marked with a shimenawa (special plaited rope) and shime (strips of white paper). They are placed at the entrances of holy places to ward off evil spirits. The pieces of white paper that are cut into strips symbolize purity in the Shinto faith.

Stairs leading to the shrine.

Shrines always have gates called torii (often red if made of wood) to demarcate the sacred area inside the shrine.

A pair of Shishi (lion-dogs) traditionally stand guard outside the gates of most Japanese Shinto shrines. One Shishi is depicted with its mouth open (to scare off demons) and the other with its mouth closed (to shelter and keep in the good spirits).

Before praying at a Shinto shrine , worshippers and casual visitors are asked to purify themselves of impurity by washing their hands.

First building of the shrine, a Warihaiden-style nagatoko.

Ema are votive plaques. At most shrines, one finds a stand with hundreds of small wooden plaques attached to it. These votive plaques, sold at the Shrine, are called ema. Worshippers buy the plaque, write their wish on it, then hang it on the ema stand, in hopes the shrine deity will grant their wish. All types of wishes are made -- couples hoping to have children, students hoping to pass school exams, people looking for true love, etc.

People praying at the shrine - the ritual goes as following: ring the bell, bow twice, clap your hands twice, make a sincere wish, and bow one more time.

Colorful painting inside the shrine.

Good Luck/Bad Luck fortune: Most shrines sell fortunes called Omikuji. If you draw a good fortune, keep it, take it home with you. But if it's bad, leave it at the shrine. These are bad fortunes tied to a rope at the shrine, people would also leave them on trees, fences, etc. The concept is leave the bad luck at the shrine, were the divine spirit can get rid it.

Sendai 89ers came here at the start of their 2011-2012 season to pray for a good season. Can you find Dan's signature?!

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Sendai 89ers Marketing.

Exploring Sendai.

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