(Photo by Luis Samayoa/Stripes Okinawa)

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I’ve seen many anime shows where there’s a batting cage scene, which has always fascinated me. I took my swings in the cages before when I was stationed in Korea, but strawberry soju kind of makes it a blur. I decided to give this very affordable and fun activity to try in Shinjuku sober to see what it’s like.

(Photo by Luis Samayoa/Stripes Okinawa)

I found two batting cages in the area, one is called Tokyo Batting Cage, which looks new on Google Maps and the other is the retro Shinjuku Batting Center. We decided to kick it old-school and visit Shinjuku Batting Center, a 15-minute walk from Shinjuku Station. When Shoji and I arrived, we noticed a cool vending machine that sold Yakuza video game franchise items. It was a bit on the pricey side, so I skipped it. If you are a fan of the franchise, you can buy merch here. But I was there for baseball, not souvenirs.

“Yakuza” (Ryuga Gotoku) vending machine (Photo by Luis Samayoa/Stripes Okinawa)

Walking in, everything had a retro-like feel to it. They had coin slot arcade games like Time Splitters 4 and Streetfighter. Although all the games are in Japanese, the instructions to use the batting cages are in English, so I quickly grabbed a cage to start getting my swings in. You will need to bring yen to exchange for 100-yen coins to play. Each cage has descriptions like the speed of the ball pitched or left-handed or right-handed. If the cage is empty, it’s yours to grab. If not, you may have to wait in line or play some arcade games.

Taiko no Tatsujin (Photo by Luis Samayoa/Stripes Okinawa)

After depositing 400 yen into the machine to start, the baseballs started coming my way, one after another, so be prepared. To be honest, I was a bit worried at first because I’m a bit thrashed up physically by active duty, but this activity didn’t really cause too much strain on Uncle Sam’s property.

Shoji and I took turns swinging the bat and had a great time, even though we might have missed more balls than we connected on. As I was swinging, I kept focused on the ball and tried to forget about life’s problems. It was a mental refresher and a cool experience to do sober. When I was in Korea, those drunk times in the batting cage didn’t make the experience as memorable as it was today. Time flew by so quickly, yet it was incredibly fun.

To those who are in the city and don’t fancy a drink, I would recommend coming down to the batting cages and swinging for the fences. It’s easy to do and a great way to spend time in this red-light district.

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