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Hanshin was a 4th place team in a six team league last season. However, they do have some pitching. The starter, Iwata, had a 2.29 ERA last season over 170 innings. The M's lone run came on Wells' HR, off Japan's best closer, Fujikawa (Career K/9 of 11.95!). In short, losing to them was an embarassment, but maybe not as awful as we might be led to think. 
Tonight was definitely Hanshin home field advantage with the songs and chanting that's all Japanese baseball, and I expect the same for the Giants when the M's play them tomorrow night. Easily 15K+ of the 40K that came out were for Hanshin. In contrast, I could cheer (and heckle) the M's all day long with it so quiet when the M's were up to bat. It was nice to see the Japanese baseball fans out in force though, as the NPB previously prevented the local fans from doing their thing. 
As for the ball, in these type of games, the MLB team will play with an MLB ball and the NPB team will play with the NPB ball. But having held both, the balls are extremely similar now, with the NPB ball feeling a little bit deader than the MLB one...!
Other things... Kawasaki looked great... Horrible situational hitting, and general offensive weakness we've come to expect... The M's loaded the bases in the 5th and had RISP in at least two other innings, but they couldn't execute at all... Noesi looked a bit disengaged... Olivo showed off his arm gunning down a runner who wandered too far off second...
Iwakuma tomorrow...! Giants will probably send out their ace, Utsumi.