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Japan rewind: 15 years since Barry Bonds visited Kabukicho soapland

TOKYO (TR) – On November 9, 2002, the San Francisco Giants’ Barry Bonds slugged a pair of home runs at Tokyo Dome in an 8-1 thrashing of the Japan Series champion Yomiuri Giants in an exhibition game against the Major League Baseball All-Star team.

“That’s what we came here for — to put on a good show,” Bonds was quoted by the Japan Times afterward. “Everyone’s a little nervous because we haven’t played in a while. This was an ice breaker.”

According to Friday (Nov. 28, 2002), the night did not end for Bonds with his 2-for-3 performance at the Dome. Later on, he managed to hit another one out of the park, so to speak.

Friday Nov. 28
Friday Nov. 28

In a two-page report, a reporter for the magazine follows Bonds and at least one other player after a post-game meal to the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward.

At around 11:00 p.m., a van carrying the players arrived in the district. After exiting, Bonds and his entourage, including a number of security guards, walk past hostess clubs and “pink” salons lining the district.

The outfielder then entered a soapland bathhouse. Rates at the establishment begin at 65,000 yen for the first 100 minutes. Customers are a provided with a lineup of masseuses to choose from. “In choosing a well-endowed girl with a big butt, he just said, ‘You,'” assures one masseuse.

Once the — as Friday says — “second half of the double-header” concluded, Bonds re-entered the van. A photograph provided by the magazine shows the burly slugger being escorted into the vehicle from the premises of the soapland.

The magazine, which notes that Bonds did not bring his wife on the trip, supposes that the session took its took. In another game against the Giants the following evening, right-hander Koji Uehara struck out Bonds three times.

Source: “B Bonds Shinjuku soopu,” Friday (Nov. 28, pages 10-11)