Hiroshima Carp Make The Playoffs For The First Time In 16 years: Let’s go shopping!

Hiroshima erupted with a mixture of elation and relief last night when its much-loved baseball team, the Hiroshima Carp, secured a place in the Central League’s Climax Series with a 2-0 victory over the Chunichi Dragons. It is the first time the local team have reached the Climax Series since it was introduced in 2007 and the first time in 16 years that they have finished in the top three.

The Japan Times reports that,

Bryan Bullington (11-9) pitched seven shutout innings to lead the Carp to victory, which secured Hiroshima a top-three finish in the Central League.
Brad Eldred went 3-for-3 including a two-run homer, his 13th of the season, that broke the deadlock in the eighth inning at Nagoya Dome.

They still have a very tough road to make it to the Japan Series, with Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers standing in their way, but from fan reaction online last night, you’d think the Carp had become world champions. Many fans posting their delight on Twitter and Facebook took the time to explain, somewhat apologetically, to their friends and followers outside Hiroshima, that this was the kind of happiness that can only be experienced by die hard fans who have been starved of success, year after year. Hiroshima certainly has a smile on its face this morning!

It is very common in Japan for the corporate sponsors of its pro sports teams to offer special deals to celebrate the success of their teams. In baseball, these celebratory sales are usually held on the winning of a pennant or the Japan Series itself. Hiroshima, however, has take its chances when it can, so, while I doubt we can expect big deals on Mazda cars, most of the big department stores are holding celebratory bargain sales from today. Below is a round up of what we’ve found so far.

SOGO

Price reductions on this years “popular items” and some special products on each floor.

Runs for 5 days until September 30

Check the list of items on sale (in Japanese) here.

Hurry if you want grab one of the 3 diamond ring, pennant and earing sets on sale for only ¥180,000 (I wonder if they have the Carp mascot on them…)

Tenmaya

Specially priced items on each floor, with some daily extra special limited bargains.

Runs for 3 days until Saturday September 28

PARCO

In its “Go Go Go Carp Sale”  PARCO is offering deals until October 2 in many of its stores.

If you spend over ¥3000 in Tower Records you get a ¥300 coupon and  Mujirushi is offering an extra 20% off stuff already on sale. Woo hoo!
Check all the deals available in the Honkan here and the Shinkan here [ja].

Fukuya

In a one day celebration, Fukuya is apparently offering not only discounts, but some items priced at a mere ¥77 – the shirt number of Hiroshima Carp manager Nomura Kenjiro.

We hear Mitsukoshi is also running a sale, but can’t find any details on its website.

If you spot anywhere else running special deals while you are out and about, tell is in the comments or on our Facebook Page, and we’ll add it to this post.

Congratulations to the Carp and happy bargain hunting!