TOKYO -- With an upper-deck ticket tucked away in my back pocket, I arrived 41/2 hours early for a late-April Sunday afternoon game between the Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers at the Tokyo Dome.

It was my first Japanese baseball game, and I wanted plenty of time to explore the Dome's environs and visit the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, which adjoins the stadium.

I assumed the complex would be relatively deserted at 9:30 a.m., but after a five-minute walk from the train station, I couldn't believe what I saw as I approached the Dome. Several hundred people -- some of whom had appeared to have camped out the night before -- were in an orderly line snaking up to a ticket window that hadn't even opened yet.

Theywere hoping to get standing-room tickets for that afternoon's game. Only about half of them would eventually get inside the stadium, and even then, their view of the action would be blocked by so many people standing in front of them, they would end up watching the game on one of the many TVs located throughout the Dome's concourse.

True, it was a holiday weekend in Japan and the Giants and Tigers are two of the country's most popular teams. But I had not expected to see this level of interest for a regular-season game just three weeks into the season between the third- and fifth-place teams in a six-team league.

Once I went inside the Dome, I was even more surprised at the depth of the fans' passion for