TOKYO (AP) — He paid about $80 for the ticket. He was wearing a Japan cap over a blue Los Angeles Angels jersey.Amidst the enthusiasm for the feeling of Shohei Ohtani, baseball fan Hotaru Shiramizo also talked about things other than sports.
Shiramizu, 23, was part of a quilt of thousands of fans in colorful costumes outside the Tokyo Dome on Thursday afternoon. They walked around, camped, and discussed their desire to see Ohtani face China in Japan’s opening game of the World Baseball Classic.
“He’s a legendary player, but he’s not just a good player,” Shiramizu said, using a translation app to help clarify some thoughts in English. His aspirations, his achievements, have had a positive impact on all Japanese people.”
“All the kids want to be like Ohtani.”
Japanese culture and politics these days feel more tenuous than they did decades ago. The economy is stagnant. Birth rate is among the lowest in the world. A few months ago, a former prime minister was assassinated on the street. Despite its “Cool Japan” image abroad, Japan faces uncertainty on many fronts, including the corruption scandal surrounding his 2020 Tokyo Olympics, postponed due to the pandemic, and the giants of neighboring China. It faces strong Asian rivals and more.
For many people, Ohtani is the antidote.
He does what modern players don’t. He’s a throwback who can pitch, bat, and play on the field. Many call him the best player in the major leagues. If so, he’s better than Americans — Latin Americans — in what they consider their game.
He is, so far at least, the culmination of the evolution of Japanese baseball that began in 1872 when baseball was introduced to Japan by an American professor. And his fame has surpassed that of his predecessors such as Ichiro Suzuki and Hideo Nomo.
One of them could hit really well. You can throw the same. But Otani? He does both, and is stronger than Ichiro and Nomo on the pitcher’s mound and at bat.
Koichi Nakano, who teaches politics and culture at Sophia University in Tokyo, said, “Ohtani’s idolization in Japan seems to reflect a unique inferiority complex towards baseball’s homeland, the United States.
“Baseball is very major here, but it has long been said that what is called baseball in Japan is different from the ‘real’ baseball in America. Books have been written and published on this topic,” Nakano said.
Ohtani’s long-awaited return to Japan has also generated buzz around him, with a sold-out event at the Tokyo Dome.
Nearly 2,000 days had passed since Ohtani played his last inning in Japan for the Nippon-Ham Fighters on October 9, 2017, before leaving for California. That drought ended when he hit two three-run homers off the Hanshin Tigers.
Businessman Keiichiro Shiotsuka, who was waiting outside the stadium, called Ohtani a “Japanese treasure.”
“I’m glad he’s playing in Japan because I don’t know if there will ever be another player like him,” he said.
In addition to all the talent, Ohtani has the best reputation. No scandals. There are no tabloid articles about his social life. He has more of his $20 million endorsement than any other major leaguer. And he could sign the biggest contract in baseball history when he becomes a free agent after this season, with the $500 million figure kicked in.
“He’s very real,” said Masako Yamamoto, standing at the ticket office outside Tokyo Dome with her 12-year-old son Shutaro and other family members. Facing her was a pulsating billboard flashing an image of Otani.
“As a human being, he’s polite, very charming, and kind to people. He’s special. His personality is very equal. He seems to set the tone.”
Ohtani came out of Japan’s regulated baseball system at Hanamaki Higashi High School in rural Iwate Prefecture, mostly in northeastern Japan. Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi attended the same high school a few years ago. Systems like the military have their critics, but Ohtani does it well.
“Ohtani grew up in this Japanese martial arts-inspired training system where he joined a baseball team and played year-round,” he says, writing several books about Japanese baseball and living here for 60 years. said Robert Whiting in an interview with the Associated Press last year.
“High school freshman Ichiro was probably the best player on the team, but he couldn’t play. ” said Whiting. When he was a freshman in high school, he was cleaning toilets. “
Ohtani is the exact opposite of the edgy Ichiro. The Japanese phrase “Derukugi wa Utareru” captures Ichiro. “A nail that sticks out gets hammered down”
In describing how baseball took root in Japan, Whiting and others point to the importance of the 1896 Yokohama match between the Japanese and the Americans. Japan won her 29-4, with many of the players coming from samurai families.
The result was front page news in Japan. The victory is believed to have lifted the country from centuries of isolation and gave Japan, which was undergoing modernization, confidence that it could compete with industrialized nations.
Political scientist Nakano said, “Ohtani is an idol these days, but he may be even bigger than any idol to date. He noted that only Ohtani does both batting and pitching.” He’s ‘made in Japan’ but now he’s more real than an American player.”
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