Baystars Vs Swallows opening night team - English debutants :)

Hi all, very excited as we've booked 27th game tickets on stubHub (hope it works anyway). I've heard NPB games have better support than MLB so we went NPB.

Would be grateful for input on some questions for those who have been to a game night at Yokohama stadium:

1. Is it best to visit the merchandise store earlier in the day? There are two I believe, Home is largest and Park meant to be less busy.

2. Is Chinatown going to be crazy busy beforehand for food? Better to eat at stadium food vendors?

3. First time for us at a baseball game. (closest experience for us is a cricket game) Tips for clothing at an early season NPB game? I assume it will get cold...

4. Game starts 18:30, so I assume we should get there for about 17:30?

Many thanks!