CNN

"Mom," my 15-year-old son said as he looked around at all the cameras surrounding us. "I think it's about time to put this sign away."

A few weeks ago, my family and I (including my parents who flew in from Massachusetts, USA) attended the MLB opening series at the Tokyo Dome (Red Sox vs. Oakland A's). It's bit of a long story how we were able to get tickets to Game 1. It was 2 parts luck; 1 part flattery and 1 part social (i.e. I'm very chatty).

"So," I said to the school mom sitting next to me (a few months ago now). "What company brought you to Tokyo?" Several of us moms were assigned/volunteered as the decorating committee for a school event. I know I probably should have been focusing on my bows and ribbons, but I don't like silence.
The mom looked at me. "We are here with MLB. Do you know Major League Baseball?"
This is when I messed up on my bow. By the way, the glue from a glue gun is hot.
"So des ne," I said in Japanese (In English: Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodnesohmygoodnessohmygoodness.
"Oh, what a lovely bow!" I said to my new and best friend. "You have such talent...and by the way...Oh! my what wonderful colors you chose! By the way, do you know how...beautiful! Just beautiful ribbon! DoyouknowhowtogetticketsfortheRedSoxgamehereinTokyo? Wow! You are such a lovely, lovely decorator."

Anyway, we were able to get tickets and be part of a very exciting event. It was unbelievable. At the game, I was expecting to see exciting 9 innings. I was expecting to hear Sweet Caroline. I was expecting Manny to be, well, Manny. But I was not expecting the Keg Girls (young woman who walk up and down the stands with beer keg on their backs). I was not expecting dried squid. And I was not expecting this question:

"Hi. We are from CNN. Can we interview you and your family?"

And, so, my parents, my 3 sons, and 2 men from Boston we didn't know were on CNN outside the Tokyo Dome! I guess we were easy to pick out of the crowd of 45,000: My parents were wearing Cape Cod sweatshirts. My boys and I were wearing Red Sox gear from head to toe. And, we also had a sign that read "Red Sox Victory" in Engish and in Kanji.

"Mom, Mom," my son said from the side of his mouth as another crew filmed us with the sign. "I'm putting the sign away. I really came to the game early to see batting practice, remember."

I also didn't expect to be interviewed by Japanese TV stations. But, as soon as we left the CNN interview, we were immediately surrounded by more crews. They loved the boys' homemade English/Kanji sign.

So, lessons learned from this Tokyo adventure: Be a Sox fan. Know your kanji, and of course, be chatty.

To see the video, go to: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/sports/2008/03/25/lah.japan.baseball.cnn?iref=videosearch