A Pinkful Day & A Dinner Party

No one does a themed baseball game better than the Softbank Hawks. We attended another pro match on our Sunday in Fukuoka at the city’s PayPay Dome.

The Hawks' Stadium

Within half a mile of the stadium, we started seeing more people wearing pink “Hawks” jerseys, but it was not until we made it to the top of the stairs that led up to the stadium that we got the whole vision. Pink was EVERYWHERE. Pink flowers planted to spell the team’s name grew on a grassy knoll. Every promotional poster was swapped for one with the same color scheme, some of which included the players posing and dressed to match. We were given free jerseys ourselves to match the rest of the stadium.

In our new jerseys, we fit right in!

When we asked what the special occasion was, as these are not the classic Hawks colors, we were told that the team celebrates "Pinkful Day" once a year. They use this day to raise awareness about breast cancer and use their platform to encourage regular check-ups within the community in the name of early detection. It is also a display of support for the people facing this disease and a celebration of those who have overcome it. When the players took to the field, they wore special pink uniforms. This game showed me an example of a unified sports team using its platform to better their community, and going all out in the process. 

Samford + Seinan Students!

That night, we went to an all-you-can-eat restaurant to meet with more Seinan students. Many of them had seen a sign-up sent out by the school to have dinner with American college students and decided to come based on that. It made me feel so special when I asked a couple of them why they wanted to come, and they all answered with a variation of “to practice my English and to make new friends”. Suppose there’s one thing this trip has done. In that case, it has connected people who might have never met otherwise! Very few people in our group knew each other before coming to Japan. Many of the Seinan students had never met each other before, either. It was an incredible moment where we all realized we were in the same boat, though we lived on opposite sides of the world: all of us want to meet new people and make new friends, and we’re all students experiencing the joys and stressors of college. We discussed hobbies, music tastes, roller coasters, slang, comfort food, and dream jobs. I tried to soak up every moment because it’s not every day you get that opportunity!