I went to Koshien Plus’s 1st anniversary event, “Koshien Plus 1st Anniversary Event.”
Hanshin Tigers alumnus Ryota Imanari was appointed as the one-day PR ambassador for the event.
His impersonation of Hiroki Uemoto was hilarious.
Can you feel how fully into it he is, even in a suit? He was really fired up! If that’s not enough for you, check out Ryota Imanari’s official YouTube channel.
So many fans came out for this. The Koshien Plus pose! Everyone, give it a try too!
He also sampled and reviewed food from each of the five restaurants at Koshien Plus.
He said the juices that came out the moment he cut into Tsunoda Meat’s hamburg steak were amazing.
Chuo-ken’s sara udon. He ate it plain at first, then really enjoyed changing up the flavor with Worcestershire sauce and vinegar.
And then, what the fans had been waiting for: distribution of Ryota Imanari’s original business cards began.
This time, he handed out a limited run of 200 cards.
While we were bringing you that scene up close via livestream…
There was a photo time in the middle, and he gave the little fans a special shot.
What?! Ryota Imanari gave Shachomi @ Nishi2 a “come here, come here” gesture?!
No choice but to ride this big wave!! That’s the picture.
Yessss!! Nishi2 got a photo with him as press! Thank you so much!
There was also a raffle going on that day.
There were festival-style activities too, like super ball scooping.
Shachomi @ Nishi2 also covered the whole scene by livestream. We’ve been livestreaming a lot of Nishinomiya events lately.
Since it was the opening day of exhibition games, there were a lot of people.
It was a game against Orix. A neighborhood matchup.
Whoa.
I’ve been to a lot of events for coverage lately, but this was the biggest crowd I’ve seen this year.
There was even a dog out for a walk that looked very Tigers-themed.
Come to think of it, where did one-day PR ambassador Ryota Imanari go?!
He was signing autographs for kids!
It looked like he visited each shop, and at the baseball shop “Baseball Park Stand In Koshien” on the 1st floor of Koshien Plus, he wrote a commemorative signature on the wall. There are tons of other signatures too.
He sat in the glove-shaped chair in front of the shop and struck this pose. That’s an ambassador for you.
Of course, you’d want to sit in it too. Since I’m technically the president, here’s the president pose. I’m not actually that important.
He also visited “Hokkyokusei,” the omurice shop filled with the amazing aroma of demi-glace sauce.
This pose in front of Sundubu Okkii looks great too!
There were so many staff members at Tsunoda Meat, and it looked like such a fun time.
The customers at Chuo-ken were super excited, and he took photos with each table.
Then, when he came out of the shop…
That little girl fan he’d taken a photo with ran up to him, and he caught her in his arms. Now that’s fan service!!
He even did super ball scooping together with her. Such a heartwarming scene.
So Ryota Imanari’s PR ambassador appearance was a lot of fun…
But actually, the real highlight was still to come.
Baseball coaching at the virtual batting center “BE-STADIUM KOSHIEN.”
He carefully watched everyone’s batting form and immediately gave easy-to-understand advice.
In the middle of it, he gave a high five to an adorable child saying, “Yayyyy.” Ryota Imanari is so kind. He did the “yay!” with them over and over again. lol
There was a woman who had played softball and was having a hard time getting a hit. He kept telling her, “This really is difficult,” while watching her batting from all kinds of angles and coaching her gently.
