A regional team, fiercely supported
The Hanshin Tigers are based at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, just outside Osaka proper but very much the region's team, and their fanbase is famous nationwide for its intensity — loud, organised chants, a rival identity built partly in contrast to Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants, and a stadium atmosphere that regularly ranks among the most electric in Japanese baseball.
The seventh-inning balloon release
During the seventh-inning stretch of every home game, Tigers fans release thousands of long, thin balloons into the air at once — a tradition specific to the team and one of the most visually striking moments in Japanese sport if you're there to see it.
The Curse of the Colonel
After the Tigers' 1985 championship win, celebrating fans reportedly threw a life-size Colonel Sanders statue from a Dotonbori-area KFC into the canal, and the team went on a long championship drought that fans and media alike attributed to a curse — the statue was eventually recovered from the canal in 2009, missing its glasses and one hand. Whether or not you buy into the legend, it says a lot about how seriously the team's fortunes are taken.
Koshien Stadium's other identity
Beyond professional baseball, Koshien Stadium hosts Japan's national high school baseball championship each summer, an event followed with an intensity that rivals professional sport and is deeply embedded in Japanese popular culture well beyond Kansai.