I recently got an invite to come check out a basketball game at new arena in my town. Just a few short months ago, I used to get tickets to the older arena very often, but since the opening of this new state of the art facility, free tickets have never come my way....until now.

My friends from ZIM ( 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe) are always looking out for me as I do them. They have become like my extended family here in Japan. So whenever something is going down they make me know ASAP. In this instance, a mutual friend had some free stand tickets for a Saturday evening game. Now, while I know the guy that has the plug, him and I aren't as chummy as he is with our ZIM friends, but he is a cool dude. So much so, that I had to come late to the game, well late to the starting and he came out to hand me the ticket, a piece of paper with a bar-code, his name + guests.

The Open House Arena is said to be world class on the level of a smaller NBA arena. On the day, it was announced that 5,260 people attended the games. I checked their website but there was no information on the total capacity this facility can accommodate. The biggest NBA arena, the United Center, can hold about 20,000 people and is home to the Chicago Bulls.

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So who was playing?

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Gunma Crane Thunders vs Ryukyu Golden Kings Okinawa

• B League Professional Basketball 🏀

The Thunder girls

One of the highlights of these games are the cheerleaders known as the Thunder Girls. Interestingly, cheerleading is a recent phenomenon in Japan with girls as young as 3 attending lessons and doing cheers at events. But no kiddie cheerleaders here. The Thunder girls really do follow the lightning as their moves are electric. And of course they are all cute, sexy and have a welcoming smile.

It was a great game with the home team ( The Crane Thunders) beating the Okinawa Kings 81 to 72. I could see myself going to games often in the season as it’s like going to a club in the day time 😂. The booze, dancing girls, excellent 👌🏾 sound system, the Jumbotron ( big floating screens ) and the game itself ( I guess that would be a fight in the club of the artistes performing 😆 ). Speaking about clubs, I believe this arena will host many concerts in the B league off season in the near future, it only makes sense as the cost of a state of the art arena isn’t pocket change. And these arenas are perfect for concerts.

Well, until next time, stay blessed ✨