Japan's schedule of countryside games (those played away from the home franchise stadiums of the 12 Central and Pacific League teams) has concluded for the season. The last scheduled game, where the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters were to have played the Chiba Lotte Marines on Tuesday at Asahikawa was rained out.
The Yomiuri Giants also had bad luck this year with the scheduling of home games played outside of Tokyo Dome. There were four trips and seven chiho (countryside) games slated in 2016, but earthquakes, typhoons and just plain rainy weather forced postponement of three of them and almost took out a fourth.
A Giants two-game Kyushu series against the Chunichi Dragons that was to have been played April 19-20 at Kumamoto and Kagoshima was wiped out because of strong aftershocks in the Kumamoto area. A severe earthquake had hit that city the previous week, there was some damage to Fujisakidai Stadium, and the decision was made to scrap the entire trip.
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