B3 Daichi Kono
I had lived in Hokkaido for 18 years until I entered Utsunomiya University. During that time, Days with my family were precious, and I enjoyed supporting my favorite baseball team. So, I would like to write about them in this essay.
My family has been cultivating various vegetables, including potatoes, onions, and melons, since I was a child. As summer arrives, our dining table is filled with various fresh-picked vegetables. The curries made with those are very tasty and would be as delicious as those of curry specialty restaurants if we were committed to the spices. My parents are not farmers, but they rent a large field next to our house to grow vegetables. Although I have only helped pick vegetables a few times, I can easily get attached to them, and they taste better when I pick them with my own hands. Recently, we have started to grow fruits and vegetables such as eggplants, squashes, cucumbers, and strawberries, which has dramatically enriched the variety. Therefore, I sometimes wonder if my family could be self-sufficient!
Additionally, I have been enjoying watching baseball games in my hometown since elementary school. My favorite team is the Nippon-Ham Fighters, a baseball team based in Hokkaido. At first, I was not very interested in baseball, but when I watched a baseball game for the first time just because one of my friends gave me the ticket, I was overwhelmed by the voices cheering up players and the fun of the game. Since then, I have watched about 4 or 5 baseball games live annually. I visited baseball stadiums many times in 2016 because the Nippon-Hum Fighters were strong enough to win the Pro Baseball Championship in Japan, a tournament to determine the strongest team in Japan. I was a big fan of Shohei Otani and used to sing cheer songs with fans when they were in the batter's box. In 2016, he was making a significant contribution, winning ten as a pitcher and hitting 20 home runs as a hitter. Shohei Otani has been to the MLB, but I will never forget his successes. Last year, a new home stadium for the team called ES CON FIELD was completed in Kitahiroshima City near Sapporo City. It is good for me because it is only about 30 minutes from my house compared to the Sapporo Dome, where baseball games used to be held before the new stadium was built, which used to be more than an hour from my house. It is more convenient to go to the stadium many times. When I returned home last summer vacation, I visited that place twice to cheer on the Nippon-Ham Fighters! Today, the team is made up mainly of young players. Even the players of my generation play an active role, which makes it very easy to relate to the team. They have not won a Pro Baseball Championship in the last seven years, so I hope the team wins this year.
I will continue to help pick vegetables and watch baseball games when I return to Hokkaido in the future!! Thank you for reading!
