How to find places to watch NPB baseball on TV.

I’m an American that’s been living in Niigata for 4 months. I was a big MLB fan when I lived in the States. I know there is going to be no equivalent to American Sports Bars. I just thought watching sports would be a good way to practice listening and speaking Japanese. However the izakayas near my place don’t have TVs, or play music videos or other misc shows. Is there a term to search, or a way to look for a place that would have live 野球 on TV? Or is it respectful to ask the staff to change the TV to sports?

4 comments
  1. I miss American bars with TVs showing sport so much. Can just go alone and chill at the bar and watch sport. People in Japan just don’t do this.

  2. Best way to find what you want is to search Google Maps, and particularly pay attention to the photos.

    You could start at “Sports Bars” and see what you get, but be careful some are mislabeled girl bars that have a focus on sports, which is probably not what you are wanting.

    The best bet is probably “British Pub”. Everyone likes to makes jokes about Hub, but if you want to watch sports it’s a great option. Now you are in Niigata so you don’t have that specific option, but having lived and traveled in areas without Hubs there typically are still a few British pubs where sports absolutely will be playing, including Japanese sports.

    Then you’ve got “Bars”. The list will be massive, but you can quickly judge a place by the first few photos. If you see TVs, great, if you don’t skip.

    I’d probably refrain from asking for the TV channel to be changed and just keep searching until you find a place that is already doing what you want.

    If you get weary of the search a backup plan is to watch games at home, and if what makes broadcast isn’t enough, there’s different streaming options like https://pacificleague.com/ depending on which team you are wanting to follow.

  3. Oh hey I lived in Niigata prefecture for over 7 years! The answer to if there are sports bars is going to depend on which city you’re in. Are you in Niigata City or Nagaoka? If so, you can probably at least find a British pub like The Liffey Tavern near the train stations.

    I was out in the sticks so we didn’t really have many dedicated sports bars, but my group and I did ask an izakaya or two to change the TV to sports (rugby WC I believe) and they were more than happy to oblige.

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