Hiroshima Carp 2016 Champs of Central League

Hiroshima's baseball club Carp winning championships in Japan's professional league was the rarest that ever happened to its citizens - for the first time in a quarter of a century. Well, the Hiroshimans were "dyed red" the night their team trounced Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants the night of September 10; TV viewing rate zoomed to 60.3% when the game ended at 19:00 and soared to 71.0% the moment the skipper Koichi Ogata took on the podium for an interview.

The event was certainly newsworthy was still more so was an event the Japan Red Cross staged right after the Carp clinched the championships. The Red Cross announced a special blood donation campaign to celebrate the occasion and offered a mascot doll clad in the Carp uniform to every donor.

The campaign turned out to be a smash hit, as the three donation centers in Hiroshima were happily crowded with ardent fans of the Carp dressed in the Carp uniform with all kinds of cheering goods.

The donation center in Naka Ward, Hiroshima, had no sooner opened its door than a number of donors queued up. A local male citizen in his 40's commented:

"Felt so happy the moment the boys made it. I learned of the campaign by mail and came to donate to mark the occasion."

According to the Hiroshima Prefectural Red Cross, a total of 158 donors, roughly 1.5 times as many, visited the centers for donation. Takanori Shimomae of the Hiroshima Prefectural Red Cross Blood Donation Center commented:

"We would be most happy if this occasion helps motivate more young people to positively support and participate in blood donation."

Well, that's a dandy campaign. The Carp's uniform being crimson red might have prompted the Red Cross to stage this rather timely campaign. Good show, Hiroshima Red Cross. (Nathan Shiga)