The Korean Equation in NPB

It's obvious that the NPB feels shocked after the merger and the newfound power of the Players Association. The current situation with the Iwakuma situation is showing the power of the JBPBA. The fact that the NPB has an expansion team, in Rakuten. Also, the new groups buying or creating teams in the NPB have some in the league shocked. The new IT firms jumping into the NPB can help reform the NPB, as there is less of the old ownership and finally some much needed reform in the NPB.

I meant to say that the current groups buying new teams or the establishment of new teams by corporations are changing the NPB, not creating that would be confusing and hard.

Is Son from Korea, or just of Korean ancestry? And, isn't his company buying the Hawks? Or is he the actual owner?

Softbank bought 98% of the Hawks. Daiei retains 2%.

Some of the great players in NPB history have been Korean - the great pitcher Kaneda and the slugger Harimoto.
Inchan Pak/Baek (Jinten Haku) always used his Korean name. He was one of first hitting stars in the Korean Baseball Organization after leaving the NPB. I think he is a manager in the KBO now.

Traditionally there has been a lot of friction between Japan and Korea, but a lot of that seems to be disolving now. When Korean super-star (not baseball) "Yon-sama" (I'm sure his name is spelled differrently) came to Japan earlier this week, he was greeted by thousands of fans at Narita airport. And hardly a few days have passed before his picture has become plastered all over advertisements throughout the Yamanote Line trains in downtown Tokyo.

At the after tournament banquet for the Kanazawa-ku (the part of Yokohama I live in) softball tournament this past weekend, one of the local politicians (there are three or four who attend these events regularly) gave a speach saying that in one character he would characterize 2004 with the Kanji "韓" ("kan") as in "Kankoku" (Korea). He mentioned the popularity of "Yon-sama," but also a number of other Japan-Korea (North and South) events that had taken place this year that have contributed to a greater understanding and peace between countries. I'm not interested in getting all political here, but it strikes me that Japan and Korea are warming to each other.

As for Son-san, he was educated in the U.S. and, after returning to Japan as a young college graduate, founded Softbank just as the personal computer industry was taking off in the early 1980s. Forbes recently listed Son as the 216th richest man in the world for 2004. Anyone capable of creating such an empire, no matter what nationality, is going to command respect - even from the Old Guard of Pro Yakyu. (Besides, he wears a suit and tie.)