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The story
The Hanshin Tigers clinched back-to-back Central League pennants on October 3, even after losing to the Hiroshima Carp. The traditional victory “dive” into Osaka’s Dotonbori River continued despite heavy police security — witnesses counted 10 people diving in a combined 23 times, with one man in his 20s jumping in by himself four separate times. Police even had to step in to mediate a fight between rival Tigers fans. On 5ch, discussion spread around the fact that the celebration takes place in Osaka’s Dotonbori even though the team is actually based in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, and that Dotonbori is technically closer to the home turf of the Orix Buffaloes.
Fans Dive into Dotonbori One After Another as Hanshin Clinches Back-to-Back Titles — Man in His 20s Dives Four Times… Police Step In to Mediate Fight Between Rival Tigers Fans
◆JERA Central League: Hiroshima 6–4 Hanshin (Oct. 3, Mazda Stadium)
On the 3rd, the day Hanshin secured the first back-to-back pennants in the team’s history, heavy security was in place at Osaka’s famous Dotonbori River tourist spot — but a total of 10 people were witnessed making the “Dotonbori Dive” 23 times combined.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
A Giants fan, huh
I wanna see that
Back in 2003 some guy wore a Hara (then-Giants manager) uniform
Back when it was just starting to catch on
He posted it on a blog, not a video — titled something like "I tried going to Dotonbori in a Hara uniform" — it was hilarious
Everyone around him was yelling "throw him in, throw him in!"
Hanshin is a symbol of Naniwa (Osaka) culture
Territorial rights are just a business arrangement
https://hanshintigers.jp/event/game/b-luck_dynamite2026/
Hyogo does have the Muko River near Koshien, but there's no entertainment district there, so nobody would notice even if you jumped in
Still pulling stunts like it's the Showa era
Same with stripping fully naked — do that four times and nobody's laughing anymore
Guess even Tiger fans are hit by the declining birthrate lol
There were 200 officers on duty at the start of the game in broad daylight, and by the time the Giants lost their night game that had grown to 800
That's the result of all that police security
If you're a real Hanshin fan, dive off the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge instead
Hanshin is a symbol of Naniwa (Osaka) culture
Territorial rights are just a business arrangement
https://hanshintigers.jp/event/game/b-luck_dynamite2026/
Plenty of people don't even know where Orix is based
People who aren't into baseball still think they're a Kobe team
The idea that "Hanshin is strictly a Nishinomiya, Hyogo team with nothing to do with Osaka, so go dive off a bridge in Nishinomiya instead" — that's the kind of hometown-loyalty thinking soccer fans love
That was back when today's 75-and-up crowd were kids
Can't believe people still get this hyped over baseball in the Reiwa era
Areas with a pro baseball team really do have baseball ingrained in the local culture
It pulls good ratings too — it's popular content
They'll dive every single time, win or lose
The Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza guys in Kobe are Giants fans
So this whole "Hanshin Tigers are a symbol of Naniwa culture" thing is absolutely not true
In southern Osaka there are more Giants fans than Tigers fans
They've got Giants calendars hanging on their walls lol
Old-guy Tigers fans in Kansai remember the dark ages (the Tigers' long losing streak), so they're always on edge, wondering when the rug's gonna get pulled out from under them again lol lol
Kuwata and Kiyohara were Giants fans too, and there are plenty of Giants players from Kansai
Uehara's one, and Sakamoto went to Kosei Gakuin High School but was born in Osaka, right
In Kanto terms, it'd be like DeNA winning the pennant and people in central Tokyo being the ones going wild about it
Hanshin is a symbol of Naniwa (Osaka) culture
Territorial rights are just a business arrangement
https://hanshintigers.jp/event/game/b-luck_dynamite2026/
It's basically like the Tokyo Giants building their stadium out in Yatsu, Narashino
Winning the pennant is the result of an entire season's play though?
What's lame about that?
I was actually there — some outlet interviewed the first guy who jumped in afterward, so I don't think it was staged
They sure didn't take the train or a taxi soaked like that
Fine, make noise in Namba, but seriously
don't go causing trouble for everyone else
You're dragging Osaka's image down, you jerks
Apparently nearby shops and hotels ban you from entering once you've jumped into Dotonbori, so things get rough afterward
Background and Key Points of This Topic
The Dotonbori Dive tradition dates back to 1985, the night Hanshin won its first-ever Japan Series title. Famously, a Colonel Sanders statue was even thrown into the river that night, and the team’s long losing streak afterward came to be known as the “Curse of the Colonel.” Hanshin’s home stadium is Koshien in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, but the celebrations happen in Dotonbori in Osaka’s Minami district because Tigers fandom runs wide across the whole Kansai region and Dotonbori is a famous entertainment district. Opinions in the thread were split on two points: fans of Hanshin and the Orix Buffaloes — whose home turf is actually closer to Dotonbori — often get mixed up, and there’s a real gap between those who accept the dives as a fun tradition and those who see them as a public nuisance.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisokuho+) thread “[Baseball] Fans Dive into Dotonbori One After Another as Hanshin Clinches Back-to-Back Titles — Man in His 20s Dives Four Times… Police Step In to Mediate Fight Between Rival Tigers Fans.”
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