April 4th was opening day for the 2010 Major League Baseball season and if you've ever been to a ball game in Japan or Korea, where a well-known person has opened the game with a ceremonial first pitch, I'm sure you appreciated it if the well-known person was an attractive female celebrity, which it usually is.
While the Korea Baseball Organization almost always has mainstream actresses and singers doing the honors, Nippon Professional Baseball often has less conservatively-dressed gravure idols and models take the mound, such as Satoko Miyata (above and allegedly aka Akiko Miyata), who impressively did get it across the plate from the pitcher's rubber at the Tokyo Dome last summer. What follows are some examples of what you might see at the opening of a KBO or NPB game, if you're lucky.
Korea
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| Actress Han Chae-young |
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| Singer/Actress Sung Yuri |
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| Actress Hwang Shin-hye |
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| Singer/Actress Hwang Bo |
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Singer Park Jung-ah, who had the best arm I've ever seen on any of these ladies. I don't
know why she threw from the foot of the mound because it looked like she could have
easily thrown it across the plate (and probably even a strike) from the pitcher's rubber. |
Japan
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| Gravure idol Aki Hoshino |
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| Singer and pianist Erina Mano |
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Singer/gravure idol Leah Dizon, who's not Japanese, but definitely
popular enough in Japan to open up a game there. |
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I have yet to ID this obvious stadium crowd-pleaser. If anyone can
and does in the comment section, it will be much appreciated. |
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| Another look at Satoko Miyata |
Hmmm, seems like Japan is a little more liberal than Korea when it comes to the attire of the girls they have do this.
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