Angel Balls and The Red Ballot

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Angel Balls and The Red Ballot

Kazuaki Teraya is a 41-year-old divorcee who lives in Innoshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, with his two elementary school-aged sons while driving a truck.
One night, Kazuaki Teratani suffers a traffic accident and is given a magical ball that flies as he wishes by a mysterious angel who appears in front of him.
One night, Kazuaki suffers a car accident and a mysterious angel appears in front of him and gives him a “magic ball that flies as he wishes.” Kazuaki goes to take the test to join the Hiroshima Carp in order to fulfill his childhood dream of making the Carp the best in Japan.
This is a feature-length entertainment that depicts a man’s choices and way of life through his family and the human drama surrounding them.
From the amazon introduction.

Angel Ball” is a fictional story set in the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

Because the story takes place in Hiroshima, the dialogue of the characters is in Hiroshima dialect. For example, in the scene in the bottom of the ninth inning of the final game of the climactic Japan Series

"It's only three pitches" 
Teratani mumbled, unintelligibly, 
to no one in particular. 
Teratani took a deep breath and looked up at the white moon 
above him as he finished pitching practice. 
"I'm sure everyone is praying for you on the other side
 of the TV right now," 
he said as he brushed dirt off the plate with his spikes. 
・・・・・・ 
"You can't cheer for that." 
・・・・・

The Hiroshima Municipal Baseball Stadium, where the story takes place, has now been moved to a ball park near Hiroshima Station, but in the time of the novel, it would be a very small and compact stadium, located in the center of the city near the Atomic Bomb Dome.

This is the first time I’ve read this book. Having lived in Hiroshima for a few years, I was able to read the book with a sense of nostalgia and reality in the coarse Hiroshima dialect and local stories. The story was also interesting, and I was so moved by it that I shed tears several times while reading it on the train.

Speaking of food in Hiroshima, okonomiyaki is the most famous food in Hiroshima.

I would recommend this book for reading while immersed in Hiroshima with a beer in one hand and okonomiyaki in the other.

Geibi no Kuni (Hiroshima) will be a region with a unique culture popular among overseas tourists.

The history of Hiroshima is also described in “Kaido yuku – Geibi no Michi“, so if you are interested, please refer to that as well.