"Why Only Korean Fans Are Restricted?" Tokyo Dome Limits 'Korean-Style Baseball Cheering' in Korea-Japan Match

Security Guards Intervene to Stop Korean-Style Standing Cheers

On the 17th, during the Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) Korea-Japan match held at Tokyo Dome in Japan, controversy arose as the Tokyo Dome staff blocked the standing cheers of the Korean cheering squad. It was reported that the Tokyo Dome prevented the Korean-style standing cheers citing safety reasons.

According to online communities and Japanese internet media 'Newsphere' on the 19th, the Tokyo Dome deployed security personnel in the stands during the match to block the standing cheers of the Korean cheering squad. Videos shared by netizens show uniformed Tokyo Dome security guards approaching the Korean cheering section with loudspeakers as the Korean team began their attack. They then used words and hand gestures to restrain the Korean cheering squad standing on the cheering platform and the Korean fans seated in front of them from standing cheers. Some Korean fans who spoke Japanese strongly protested, but due to repeated requests for restraint from the security personnel, the standing cheers were ultimately not carried out that day. The match ended with Korea losing 2-1.

The cheering style of standing up from seats and singing and dancing together in sync with the attacking timing of the team being supported is a common baseball stadium culture in Korea. Some have pointed out that while Tokyo Dome did not restrict such cheering in other games, it showed a particularly sensitive reaction only during the Korea-Japan match.

A netizen who watched the Korea-Japan match posted on X (formerly Twitter), "During the previous day's game against Australia, standing cheers were allowed without any particular restrictions from Tokyo Dome," and added, "Even during Japan's attack time, some Japanese fans stood up to cheer, but Tokyo Dome did not stop them."

Regarding this controversy, Newsphere reported, "An unexpected commotion occurred in the cheering section during the baseball game due to cultural differences between countries," and added, "The cheering styles of Korea and Taiwan differ from Japan's, but this was not acknowledged." A baseball fan interviewed by Newsphere said, "When purchasing the ticket, I selected a cheering seat, and there was no rule that we could not stand in the infield seats," and explained, "In Korea, it is a culture to stand and cheer during our team's attack, so I thought we could do the same during the Korea-Japan match as usual."

The APBC is a baseball tournament where Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia gather. Each team plays 4 games, totaling 8 games, with each team playing once in the preliminary round. The first and second place teams compete in the final, and the third and fourth place teams play a third-place match. The first tournament was held in 2017, and the second tournament took place this year after six years.