Take me out to the ball park...

Japan is traditionally a baseball country, and the baseball season really starts to heat up by the time the summer rolls around.

It's not the only thing that heats up, and in a country that insulation puzzlingly bypassed, people everywhere are looking to flee their apartments and small houses to try and beat the heat.

It used to be that baseball stadiums across the country were packed on these balmy summer evenings, but these days the bleechers sometimes seem less crowded than usual.

Perhaps that has something to do with the advent of the J-League, and attendances in football stadiums across the country this week may bear that out.

Nearly 54,000 fans descended upon Nissan Stadium in Yokohama last weekend, although Yokohama FC fans must have been considering hara-kiri by the end of it, as their team was astonishingly crushed 8-1 by Yokohama F. Marinos. Talk about revenge! Yokohama F. Marinos had slumped to an humiliating 1-0 defeat to their cross-town rivals earlier in the season - Yokohama FC's first ever win in the top flight, but F. Marinos wreaked their vengeance at Nissan Stadium and then some. Hideo Oshima scored four, Koji Yamase scored twice and if they let a stray dog on the pitch he would have scored too, as Yokohama FC capitulated in a strangely compelling fashion... for everyone but Yokohama FC fans.

47,359 fans packed into Saitama Stadium to see Urawa draw 1-1 with Kashiwa Reysol, a result that Gamba Osaka took advantage of by beating third placed outfit Albirex Niigata 3-1 in front of 18,112 fans at 'Banpaku.'

The attendance patterns were repeated across the country - 16,070 fans turned out at Fukuda Denshi Arena to jeer JEF United on to yet another embarrassing loss, 15,047 fans rocked up to Nihondaira Stadium to see if new Omiya coach Satoru Sakuma would spontaneously combust on the touchline - he didn't, and Omiya held their hosts to a 2-2 draw (much to this correspondent's annoyance), 14,316 fans managed to find their way to Kose Sports Park Stadium (they must have been locals) and even Sanfrecce Hiroshima managed to draw a crowd of 12,595 fans at their decrepit Big Arch Stadium - only another 40,000 or so to go 'til you get a full house guys!

The O-Bon holidays here in Japan are intended as a time for people to return to their home towns to rediscover their familial roots, although as far as I can tell most people just use it as a time to go a midweek sporting contest.

That meant bumper crowds for the midweek round of fixtures as well, as 19,600 fans turned out at Kashima Stadium to witness Kashima hand to JEF United their dignity on a plate in a 3-1 win, while 42,015 fans saw the 'full house' sign go up at Big Swan Stadium, as Albirex Niigata thrashed Nagoya Grampus Eight 4-0. 14,854 fans demonstrated what a decent atmosphere can be conjured at Yamaha Stadium if the locals actually bothered to get behind their team, as Jubilo Iwata thumped FC Tokyo 5-2, while the Kanagawa Derby attracted a crowd of 18,095 as Yokohama F. Marinos did the double over Kawasaki Frontale this year.

The big clash, of course, was at Expo '70 Stadium in Osaka, where some of the locked-out locals were doing the old Leichhardt Stadium trick and climbing trees outside the ground to try and get a vantage point as Gamba Osaka and Urawa went head-to-head in front of 20,912 fans.

Fortunately the fact that most of the English-language press seem to be on holidays (or suffering from heat-stroke) spared us from too many "battle of the giants!" headlines in the papers, as Urawa ultimately prevailed 1-0 thanks to Yuichiro Nagai's lone strike. Ryuji Bando had a goal ruled out for offside in the first half - who'd have guessed! - as Urawa coincidentally hauled themselves back into the title race, just as Gamba had looked likely to run away with the league and make the rest of the season fairly boring for everyone but JEF United fans.