As the opening day of the competition steadily approached, Waseda Industrial School set out, ready to head towards Nishinomiya City in Hyogo Prefecture.
Generally speaking, most schools, to save on expenses, would choose to take the long-distance bus to Hyogo; cash-strapped public schools would even transport their cheering squads on cheap overnight buses the night before the competition to Koshien Stadium.
Unlike these schools, Waseda Jitsugyo opts for the faster and more comfortable, albeit more expensive, Shinkansen for both its players and cheering squad, which is one of the reasons for the substantial expenses.
Speaking of which, there's a rather interesting historical reason for this tradition of taking the Shinkansen:
It is well-known that Waseda University and Keio University are two of the best private universities in Japan, relentlessly competing for many years.
