byb, your story and bel's response put me in mind of a trip to a baseball game early last summer, when our White Sox were hosting the Mariners
The Mariners' leadoff hitter, Ichiro Suzuki, is the first japanese major-league postition-player (and a star; he won the MVP at season end, I believe). Suzuki was a rookie here, but had been an established star in Japan and a mediagenic darling; something like a Michael Jordan figure.
He drew an amazing crowd. The section I sat in was almost solidly packed with Japanese fans (many of whom spoke little English). So were the section to my left, and the section to my right. A tremendous camaraderie developed among we fans -- and by the sixth inning, even the beer-vendors and hot-dog vendors had picked up enough to call out their wares in Japanese! Nihongo hotu-dogu!!!!
