A Japanese baseball team gave Taiwan's Tainan city a promotional stage, a friendly boost for the city's tourism push in Japan.

• Japan's Saitama Seibu Lions held a "Tainan Tourism Day" at their home stadium, the Belluna Dome.
• Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che threw the ceremonial first pitch, wearing a jersey with "06," the city's phone area code.
• The game pitted the Seibu Lions against the Chiba Lotte Marines.
• A promo booth showed off Tainan sights and food — the Confucius Temple, Chikan Tower, salt fields, mango ice, dragon fruit, and beef soup — with a ball-throwing game handing out over 1,000 prizes, including signed balls.
• The mayor also handed out dried fruit and pitched the old city's culture, food, and hospitality to fans over the stadium broadcast.

Outlook: Tainan will keep courting Japanese visitors, betting that exposure at high-profile events like pro baseball games draws more tourists to the city.