Japanese Culture in Baseball

First, have you read Robert Whiting's "You Gotta Have Wa" (Vintage Books, ISBN 0-679-72947-X)? That gives a great deal of the historic evolution of baseball in Japan, specifically explaining how it is that baseball became Japan's national pasttime. Whiting is your best resource for the "embracing" of the game.

What it means socially and culturally in the 21st century, though, may be different. Soccer has arisen as Japan's second major sport (other than Sumo) in recent years. Business no longer stop for the two high school baseball tournaments, collectively referred to as "Koshien," the name of the stadium outside of Osaka, that take place every Spring (an invitational) and Summer (championship teams from around Japan). The young are all busy walking around with phones in hand, not socializing the way previous generations did.

Finding primary sources for social and cultural information directly related to baseball will be difficult. (I can't think of any other than the several Whiting books.) So you might want to look at social/cultural studies showing how Japanese spend their time between different eras and age groups. While I don't have it documented, many politicians often refer to current baseball news in their speeches, as well as quote many baseball personalities (most often Nagashima who is very quotable).

I hope this helps get something started. After you get a little bit of this research done, please feel free to ask more specific questions, like if such-and-such is still as true today as it was in the 1960s?

Look at the way high school teams train. The attitude that there is only one correct way to do something is definately reflected in business culture. Also, the sempai-kouhai relationship is something that exists in both baseball and work. Those are two things that I experienced whilst studying and working in Japan.

One area I always thought deserved investigation was this: just like I hear it is in the US, baseball is also a father-son sport in Japan, too. But if Japanese fathers are as workaholic as they are made out to be compared to their US counterparts, how is the father-son aspect maintained? For instance, the owner of a small izakaya gastro-pub near my place has a 6-year-old boy. The father is in the pub preparing all day and cooking/serving all night, but he still raves on about how his son is going to be the next Kei Igawa - when and how is that father-son baseball bond being developed and maintained if they don't go play catch in the park after school or at weekends?

Now, I think about it, that's going to be almost impossible to research. Sorry

Nevertheless, here's a request for you, jydplayer22: we get a lot of requests for information or advice from researching students and most of us are glad to help out, but I've never seen a single completed thesis or project posted here. If you were to let Westbaystars-san have your thesis when it's done, I'm sure we'd all be really interested to see what you come up with.

I'll get to the specific questions after work tonight. First I'd like to comment on the father-son issue as it's actually something I'm going through right now.

My son just joined a local team two weekends ago (my daughter also decided that she wants to play, joining the team this past weekend). I was surprised at how many fathers were out there. Out of about 40 kids on the team (1st to 6th grades, the team is divided into upper and lower classes), there were 10 fathers there, all with team uniforms on (except me) acting as coaches in some form or another. The manager for the lower classmen does not have a son on the team and told me that when his grandson joins the team next year that he'll most likely retire.

Still, that's a high percentage of father participation for anything I've seen here in Japan over 18 years. And I think that it may be a sign of changing roles for fathers. I can say that the change has been very noticable at kindergarten over the past five years. (Note: Kindergarten optionally starts at three years of age and lasts for up to three years in many places here in Japan.) When my daughter started kindergarten, I was one of only a couple of dads who regularly dropped her off and picked her up. Same when my son went. For cerimonies, it was well over 90% mothers there. However, when my son graduated last month (yes, they have a full graduation cerimony), there weren't enough chairs for all of the fathers who were lined up against three walls of the multi-purpose room. And I'd gotten to know about six other fathers who dropped off and picked up their kids regularly. If a hand full of fathers can do this, they can find the time to play catch.

I also have a neighbor who often plays catch with his son after school. He works out on a fishing boat from before the sun comes up to about 4:00 in the afternoon pretty much seven days a week. His wife has told me that he's usually asleep before 8:00 pm. Yet, I often see him and his son out in the street in front of our houses playing catch.

Half of Nojima, the island I live on, is a park. People come out and bar-bee-que, set up tents for the night, fly kites, swim at the beach, gather clams, and other recreational activities. One holiday last summer I went out to play catch with Jovian, my son. There were a lot of kids running around, so we had to find a place where noone would get hit. The place was near a group of four adults playing mahjan. I didn't associate the kids with these mahjan players until a break when one of them, seeing us having a good time, decided to play a little catch with his son and a soft ball (not a baseball). It was as though we had inspired him to stop ignoring his son.

But back to baseball practice. Like kindergarten, it is prodominantly moms there. Moms are the child support network in Japan. The team has three mailing lists, one for general announcments, one for dads, and one for moms. The moms' list is the busiest. Moms are in charge of reserving the grounds, moms are in charge of providing refreshments, moms are in charge of recruiting. It may be the fathers and community volunteers out there on the field with the kids, but there is no doubt that it is the mothers who are giving the kids their full support. (My wife goes out to the park often to play catch with the kids, and there are other mothers out there playing catch as well - although once the kids start to make good contact with the ball, they're rather reluctant to pitch to the kids any more.)

I've heard about a lot of professional players who were fatherless. Many of the Okinawan players were raised by their mothers. Other players had their fathers pass away while they were young, I think Yokohama's Sasaki was one of them, but don't quote me on that. I always wondered why players in MLB would say "Hi Mom" on TV when their fathers trained them, but think it would be perfectly natural here (if the players did something so personal).

Well, I've got to get to work now. This has become a bit longer than I originally planned. It reflects my own experiences in my community for the most part, and may not be applicable throughout Japan. But I do think that the "Mother Support Network" idea may be a valid one.

- ... It is prodominantly moms there... my wife goes out to the park often to play catch with the kids, and there are other mothers out there playing catch as well.

I wondered if that might be the case. I live two doors down from a park with modest baseball facilities, and the local kids' team plays there. On Sundays, there's usually a game or a practice, and apart from the team's two managers/coaches, all the grown-ups are mothers (well, women at least - I assume they're the kids' mothers).

Anyway, thanks for the informative post. Interesting thread, this.

I would be happy to send you a copy when it is done. Most likely via e-mail? Either way, it will be done in about two weeks. Thanks everyone for your help.

Thanks so much for you responses. I have in fact read all of Whiting's work, and as someone mentioned, he is great for historical facts and philosophies. But there isn't much that is up to date. Here are some specific questions I have:

1. I have found in America that baseball has a significance to people and their childhood memories. For example, playing catch with dad or playing in the backyard with friends. What role does basbeall play for the youth of Japan?


2. I argue that the attraction to baseball for Americans originated from the simplicity of the game. I read that the Japanese originally found the game appealing because of the sense of unity and group of the game that was also an important value of the culture, but not found in the indivdual sports like sumo wrestling and judo. Why do you think baseball became popular in Japan? And why do you think it is popular now?


3. I have also read that the younger generation might be losing interest in the game as cell phones and gadgets become more popular. Does the baseball world find this to be true, and if so, is there any approach to keep the game popular? What do you see for the future of baseball in this aspect?


4. Another aspect of this paper is the team/fan relationship. The business element of this interests me in that I read the consumer is treated as a guest. A specific instance I read about was the formal apologies teams make to fans for losing. Does this still play a role in the baseball business? And how does the role of business affect the purity of the game?


5. It seems America has developed a sense of desire for intstant gratification which is difficult to satisfy with the slow pace of baseball. The Japanese seem to be more patient, is that a cultural value?


6. How is race played out in baseball and is there any cultural connetion?


7. Lastly and most importantly, can you comment of the place of baseball in Japan? And what cultural values show up in the game today?

You ask a lot of difficult questions and the implications are quite interesting. I would (from my experience) say the following applies.

1. The situation is similar in Japan though soccer also plays a very significant role.


2. I cannot comment on popularity in the past but I would say that now baseball provides an exciting entertainment coupled with belonging to a group.


3. The main threat to baseball is soccer - this sport is certainly gaining in popularity and baseball, with certain exceptions, has been slow to respond. Soccer has created a regional loyalty to a particular team which only the Hanshin Tigers have currently matched. However, other teams such as the Rakuten Golden Eagles, Nippon Ham Fighters, and Softbank Hawks are attempting to become more regional. Most baseball teams are attempting to exploit the new technology with Softbank and Golden Eagles in the fore of this.


4. Currently more attention is being focused on fans - so developments such as the Yomiuri Giants' new fan office and Mickey the ball dog look set to continue. Business impact is more difficult to assess, but marketing is really only effectively exploited by the Hanshin group. Brand recognition increases enormously if you have a baseball team (more so than soccer at the moment).


5. You are straying into generalisations here, but it is true that, as a rule, the Japanese are a very patient people.


6. I am not sure I understand your question.


7. Baseball is a significant element in the Japanese sporting world. In the Kansai region the Hanshin Tigers have become a symbol of the regional resistance to Kanto (Tokyo) and so, to some extent, if you are from Kansai you are expected to like the Tigers.

There are a lot of interesting discussions on this site which it may be worth reading. Westbaystars-san has not deleted these and they are worth reading in detail.

Here, let me give it a shot.

1. The examples you bring up, like catch with dad, ball with friends probably doesn't have as much impact on childhood memories as a whole, simply because of neighborhood constraints. I grew up in the States, and while there I would go out to play stickball after school. In Japan, there's not much you can do when bunting will break a few windows. And don't even get me started on our backyards. Most parks in the cities of Japan ban playing catch, anyway. That leaves us with organised ball, like school teams and local clubs. After-school activities are a huge part of the social life of a Japanese child, and I would guess that that plays a huge role.

2. My take on the early popularity of baseball is that the format of baseball made it easy to portray the various virtues of martial arts onto it. If you research the stories of old ballplayers, you'll find tons of stories about perseverence, references to "Samurai" and "Zen," and off-season training regimens reminiscient of Buddhist monks. I just think the mindset towards baseball is very, very different here.

3. You know about the contraction fiasco last year, right? Popularity and general interest is going down, and so far, the owners seem to be just interested in sticking to their tried (and not always true) methods, while the players seem to be taking this more seriously. I see a need for drastic improvement in every aspect of the game.

4. Well George Steinbrenner did apologize to the fans. The fact that the teams are supported by the mother companies hinders their ability to come up with efficient, innovative ways to sell their product. To a degree, a loss is tolerated if the team is a promotional asset. Scouting, marketing, roster makeup, all of these are aspects that could be run far more efficiently if a team put some serious thought into it.

5. Nah. We're not patient, we're just not that outspoken about it.

6. Kind of hard to understand the question.

Need to get back to work, I'll get the last question some other time.

As Torakichi-san mentioned, threads here last forever, and there have been several questions about cultural aspects. Here is a quick Google for "culture" on this site. As you can see, there's a lot of material that could use some organizing (like in a thesis?).

Now, to the questions:

1. What is the role of baseball for Japan's youth?
A non-authoriative answer would be for social interaction. Perhaps it's for the challenge for some. Unfortunately, we haven't had any real sociologists come by with real data to back anything up with. This question would be best left as a questionnaire for native Japanese opinions reflecting their youth.

2. Why did baseball become popular, and why is it still?
The first part of this question is best left to Whiting-san, who has done extensive research into Japanese baseball history. As for the second part, it was pointed out that baseball is losing popularity. So a plausable explanation for why it has maintained its popularity is inertia. Again, I have no data to back up anything, but the general feeling is that the older generation, the one that witnessed the "greats" (Oh, Nagashima, Enatsu, Nomura, and many others) of Japanese baseball from the "V-9" era (when the Giants won 9 Nippon Series in a row), is the core fan base, but that they're slowing dying off. They passed on some of their passion for the game to the next generation, but the passing hasn't been nearly as strong with each iteration.

The problem with this question is relative definition of "popular now." Compared to when? To the beginnings? To the V-9 era? To the early 1990s? It's hard to think of a time when baseball has been less popular than it is now, so I'm not sure how to answer.

I would like to make a comment to Christopher's "belonging to a group" comment. A New Zealand friend of mine came to a softball tournament I was in last Fall and commented that baseball appears to be very popular, looking at all of the people stopping outside the fense and looking in on their way past the grounds. I replied half jokingly that it's lonely people looking for a group to belong to, but after thinking about it, I don't think that I'm very far off with that. How many of you have ever stopped at a ball park on your way somewhere, gave a silent cheer for the play that happened, and walked on feeling a little bit better?

3. Baseball vs. gadgets: how can baseball win and/or evolve?
NPB is very slow to do anything (except try to implode, which they tried last year). Some of the teams are making services for cell phones, mainly subscription based update services for the true die-hard fan. Phone straps with the team logo or character on them are the biggest selling items for most teams. But none of these can capture the easilly distracted young who soon go off chasing the next shiny object they see.

Marketing [Google of this site] is a serious problem with the people in charge. Please see those threads for more details.

While what Nao-san said is true in general, that the powers-that-be aren't willing to make drastic changes, they have lightened up on a number of issues. For example, players used to be forbidden from holding workshops with their former high schools for fear of tampering charges - but that ban has been lifted. Once one had played in NPB, it took special permission to get to go back to the Industrial Leagues (ametuer baseball) to play again - permission is not hard to get any more. These are all positive ways to keep the young interested in baseball, but what effect does it have in bringing kids in? Very little, I would think.

4. Are customers still treated as guests in the baseball business? And how does the role of business affect the purity of the game?
Christopher and Nao-san both hit some pretty good points. The two references Christopher made may need some clarification.

The new Giants' fan office is being run by baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima's son, Kazushige, and is basically yet another public relations window. I don't really think that the Giants need another PR group, but it does seem to make the fans feel wanted.

Mickey the ball dog is a dog that is in charge of carrying out a basket of balls to the umpire when necessary at Hiroshima. Many fans wrote in that they liked him, so the Carp have signed him on to continue with ball-dog duties during the season. Will a dog bringing balls out to the umpire fill the stands at Hiroshima Shimin Kyujo? I have my doubts, but I give them points for creativity.

5. Regarding the slow pace of baseball, the Japanese seem to be more patient, is that a cultural value?
There have been a number of inititives over the past decade to speed up games in Japan as it is percieved that the long game times are turning fans off. The assumption part of your question is incorrect.

6. How is race played out in baseball and is there any cultural connetion?
Are you referring to ethnicity? As you read in Whiting's works, there was a big push for a "pure" Japanese team by the former-former Giants' owner. Watanabe-owner (well, former owner who many think is still in charge) has actually stated that he'd like the foreign player limit abolished.

Taiwan, however, has a very interesting history with the original natives of the island country playing a very important role in their second successful professional baseball league. I would recommend reading "Ninja Catchers and Chivalrous Eagles: Taiwan Baseball and a Globalized Taiwan Identity" by Andrew Morris, Department of History, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

7. What is the place of baseball in Japan? And what cultural values show up in the game today?
This is a difficult pair of questions. In the past, players were well groomed role models on and off the field. Now the Giants' manager has facial hair and their number four batter wears an ear ring! This is the end of the world as we know it!

Joking aside, baseball players are still very much considered to be role models, although they are allowed to color their hair and dress more casually off the field than they were a couple of decades ago. The Darvish smoking incident is a good example of the teams' desire to have a good, clean image.

I think you were looking for an answer like "team work and self sacrifice in baseball is a reflection of the culture." While that may have once held true, I don't think that it does any more. The "Me Generation" has arrived in Japan thanks to Hollywood. The people I work with who most fit the self-sacrificing team player steriotype are also the ones with the least time for watching baseball. Baseball conversations with them tend to be about its history more than current events. Does that mean that baseball had once played a role in making them who they are?

Re-reading your question, I think I had it backwords. The "Me Generation" has most definitely entered baseball. Ball players like their gadgets as much as the young of Japan. And their colored hair and ear rings.

I hope this helps. There really does need to be a good, well documented study on these issues by a real sociologist. I hope your paper doesn't suffer from too much opinion, that's my main concern. Nonetheless, I look forward to your paper.

Thanks a lot guys. And yes, I am always trying to get away from any opinion/assumption. Especially with the idea of Japanese patience, that was something I read in one of Whiting's books. My dad played professionally in Japan and I lived there for two years as a little kid, but I really don't know enough about anything in Japan to make any kind of assumptions. Your responses are very helpful and greatly appreciated.

Did your dad play in Japan? May I ask what his name is?

Max Venable, played for the Chiba Lotte Marines in 1992 and '93.