Yes, it’s the best game you can name!
We are casual hockey fans. I don’t have any interest in most sports, but hockey I understand. So when we found out our local hockey team, the Tohoku Free Blades, was playing a few games in Misawa, we jumped at the chance.
Tohoku is the name for the whole northern region of Japan’s main island, Honshu. The team doesn’t appear to have a permanent home stadium, but travels to ice arenas in several cities throughout the area. The Free Blades are part of the Asia League, which includes China and Korea. Teams fly back and forth between the countries, but the level isn’t quite what you might expect from international competition. More like minor league NHL action.
We had never been to the Misawa Ice Arena, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when we walked in. It is fairly tiny — couldn’t seat more than 1000. And there were a lot of open seats. Maybe Misawa isn’t a big hockey town.
B had a great time watching the Zamboni (technically, not a Zamboni but some other brand). The game started slow but was very exciting. We won in double overtime!
Foodwise, we were a bit disappointed. I was hoping there would be interesting Japanese festival foods, but the only concessions were from a bake sale sponsored by Americans. Since I wasn’t particularly interested in buying Cheez Whiz nachos or whole cakes, there wasn’t much to offer.
We had a great time and can’t wait for the next time the team is in town. I think we may have to wait a year, but we will be there!
Off to Explore 
I love the photo of the two hockey fans! Whole cakes are odd, but Cheez Whiz nachos are an essential element of any sporting event!
It is less appealing when you can actually see them dumping the elements together directly from the grocery store containers. There is a mystique to those big vats of sticky cheese.