TOKYO — Congratulations to Yuriko Gamo Romer. The San Francisco-based filmmaker has just completed her latest work, a 90-minute documentary entitled Diamond Diplomacy, which portrays the role baseball has played in shaping relations between Japan and the United States. The film recently premiered at the Mill Valley Film Featival to an appreciative audience and has received positive reviews, from a wide assortment of publications including the LA Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and Deadline Hollywood.
Trailer here:
Romer is an award-winning director and Stanford graduate known for her documentaries on Japanese American connections in particular her film short “Baseball Behind Barbed Wire,” which focused on Japanese issei and nisei confined to WWII interment camps in the US who turned to baseball to keep their spirits up.
Diamond Diplomacy charts the evolution of the US-Japan relationship dating back to the late 19th century when a visiting American professor introduced the game to his students. It became a national obsession in 1896 when the First Higher School of Tokyo defeated a team of American amateurs and it caught on. Tours by major league teams followed, including one led by Babe Ruth in 1934, whose parade through the Ginza attracted a reported million Japanese fans, and a visit by the San Francisco Seals in 1949 which helped restore goodwill between the former wartime enemies. At the ballpark the flags of the two countries were flown together for the first time since the end of hostilities. US Occupation head Douglas MacArthur called the Seals tour “one of the greatest acts of diplomacy he had ever seen.”
Historical clips, archival footage and home movies transport the viewer into the past as do interviews with American stars who played in Japan like Warren Cromartie which are juxtaposed against similar material of Japanese stars in the US, including Ichiro Suzuki, a recent Hall of fame inductee, and Masanori Murakami who became the first player from Japan to play in MLB when he signed with the San Francisco Giants in 1964. A battle over Murakami’s rights caused a suspension of relations between the US and Japan, which lasted until 1995, when Hideo Nomo and his agent Don Nomura found a loophole which allowed the former Kintetsu Buffaloes pitching star to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers where he became a big star. Other big names featured are Joe DiMaggio and Shohei Ohtani. Never before seen home movies of the Seals tour help bring the story to life.
The film explores the growth of a complex international relationship, touching on themes of racism and the unifying healing power of sports are vividly presented throughout. A particularly memorable clip features then Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda teaching Nomo to say, “I bleed Dodger blue.”
Commentary by baseball historian Rob Fitts, author of the widely praised Banzai Babe Ruth, and the noted author, filmmaker Kerry Yo Nakagawa, producer and director of the documentary Diamonds In the Rough about issei baseball player Kennichi Zenimura, who built a baseball field while incarcerated in wartime America, appears throughout as do occasional appearances by yours truly.
Steven Okazaki, an Academy Award-winning director for his short subject Days of Waiting The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo (1990), was an executive producer.
The well-known figure Glen Fukushima, an ex-diplomat with long Japan experience, is also an executive producer. When the film project lost funding midway because of budget cuts in the Trump administration and a shutdown threatened, Glen stepped in and made up the difference out of his own pocket.
Consider him a hero.
Jason Coskrey, sports columnist for the Japan Times, viewed the film and called it “More than a sports story, ‘Diamond Diplomacy‘ is a reflection on friendship, memory, and the ability of a simple game to transcend borders.”
Said the Rafu Shimpo: “Rarely do sports documentaries feel this fresh. A must-see for baseball fans, blending history with cultural contrasts between U.S. and Japanese training styles. Insightful, powerful, and one of the best in years.”
And the great baseball film documentarian Ken Burns said: “… gave me an even greater appreciation of how America’s pastime can transcend borders.”
Patrick Newell, co-founder of the Tokyo International School, had this to say: “Diamond Diplomacy was extraordinary. Well done! I could watch it many times. So many layers. So great to see Glen Fukushima and other Japanese Americans featured in this movie. WOW on many levels and hats off to the power of sports.”
It is as good as the new Jon Leonoudakis film on Lefty O’Doul, the man who brought Babe Ruth to Japan.
Romer’s Flying Carp Productions website
Autographed copies of Robert Whiting’s books are available for purchase. These include Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies, You Gotta Have Wa, Tokyo Underworld, The Meaning of Ichiro, Tokyo Junkie, The Chrysanthemum and the Bat. If you are interested in purchasing a book, please send an email to: robertwhitingsjapan@gmail.com
This is great but is there any way for people in Japan to see it???