Nice article combining baseball and the ubiquitous Japanese culture, as are your many others infusing the sport and that great groupthink. Your mention of other gaijin sports that have made it in Japan left out one notable - Rugby. Japan has the third largest # of rugby clubs, after England & the US, but as in the US rugby draws a blank w/all those who aren't involved. Like you, btw, I first landed in Japan in the early '60s - simply got on a boat to satisfy my curiosity. And I played my first rugby there, in Yokohama.
Btw, curious as to whether Yakyu clubhouse tradition today remains as hard-headed culture-wise. I ask because here in Korea, it is also tremendously popular but seems to allow culture among the gaijin and local players a lot more room for sharing.
Rugby is getting more and more popular. Mike Galbraith of the YCAC has been educating me on it. He knows everything there is to know about Rugby in Japan. Eddie Jones is great. There was a boom after Japan's defeat of S Africa its performance in the World Cup. Statista say top 3 spectator sports in Japan are baseball, soccer, figure skating, volleyball and tennis. But that's just one survey. It changes a lot depending. Sometimes sumo, golf. Rugby will rise during the next World Cup. But Baseball is always at the top
Thanks for your response. Yes, Galbraith has done a great, perhaps maniacal job in documenting rugby's history in Japan. He and I have been on a number of very old-boys rugby tours to various parts of the world. Among the major team sports, I think baseball somehow stands out as having avoided the excesses of the others. It just keeps going and manages to avoid a Saudi takeover.
Also in answer to your question, yakyuu not quite as hard headed as before. J. players have spent time in LB and returned to manage and coaches so training is not quite as maniacal But you still see 150 pitch complete games and a lot of sacrifice bunts. And they still start spring training a month before the Americans.
Nice article combining baseball and the ubiquitous Japanese culture, as are your many others infusing the sport and that great groupthink. Your mention of other gaijin sports that have made it in Japan left out one notable - Rugby. Japan has the third largest # of rugby clubs, after England & the US, but as in the US rugby draws a blank w/all those who aren't involved. Like you, btw, I first landed in Japan in the early '60s - simply got on a boat to satisfy my curiosity. And I played my first rugby there, in Yokohama.
Btw, curious as to whether Yakyu clubhouse tradition today remains as hard-headed culture-wise. I ask because here in Korea, it is also tremendously popular but seems to allow culture among the gaijin and local players a lot more room for sharing.
Rug has a longer history in Japan than baseball,though.
Rugby is getting more and more popular. Mike Galbraith of the YCAC has been educating me on it. He knows everything there is to know about Rugby in Japan. Eddie Jones is great. There was a boom after Japan's defeat of S Africa its performance in the World Cup. Statista say top 3 spectator sports in Japan are baseball, soccer, figure skating, volleyball and tennis. But that's just one survey. It changes a lot depending. Sometimes sumo, golf. Rugby will rise during the next World Cup. But Baseball is always at the top
Thanks for your response. Yes, Galbraith has done a great, perhaps maniacal job in documenting rugby's history in Japan. He and I have been on a number of very old-boys rugby tours to various parts of the world. Among the major team sports, I think baseball somehow stands out as having avoided the excesses of the others. It just keeps going and manages to avoid a Saudi takeover.
Also in answer to your question, yakyuu not quite as hard headed as before. J. players have spent time in LB and returned to manage and coaches so training is not quite as maniacal But you still see 150 pitch complete games and a lot of sacrifice bunts. And they still start spring training a month before the Americans.