Uehara to Negotiate Alongside an Agent

Very interesting. If things escalate, could we see Uehara traded/posted? It wouldn't make much sense, but acting rationally has never been one of Watanabe's strong suits.

This is an interesting development because it might start a new era in Pro Yakyu where agents become an accepted phenomenon like in any other sport. E.g. Japanese football players use FIFA agents, if I am not mistaken.

This is one other area where the Giants' ownership has exerted its influence to set the standard for both leagues. If the mighty Giants will not budge, neither will other teams. I hope Uehara will win this bout on points. He is on top of his game and has built some credit, but I doubt he has the leverage to challenge Watanabe.

Then again, Koji might move State side. Before he was drafted he showed interest in playing in the big leagues, and the Dodgers apparently were interested but knew their hands were tied by the NPB/MLB agreement. He is an athletic guy who could do reasonably well with the right team.

Does the Nikkan Sports article mention the name of the agent? Who is he and which company does he work for?

- Very interesting. If things escalate, could we see Uehara traded/posted? It wouldn't make much sense, but acting rationally has never been one of Watanabe's strong suits.

Uehara has denied any desire to be posted.

- This is an interesting development because it might start a new era in Pro Yakyu where agents become an accepted phenomenon like in any other sport. E.g. Japanese football players use FIFA agents, if I am not mistaken.

I would say that agents are already accepted in NPB. That battle was won three years ago. It's just the Giants that have been the last hold outs.

- This is one other area where the Giants' ownership has exerted its influence to set the standard for both leagues. If the mighty Giants will not budge, neither will other teams. I hope Uehara will win this bout on points. He is on top of his game and has built some credit, but I doubt he has the leverage to challenge Watanabe.

While he is not Hideki Matsui (who, while not using an agent, did force the Giants to make him the highest paid player in Japan, breaking the 6-oku yen barrier, something they'd avoided previously), Uehara is the Giants' ace pitcher and has more than enough leverage to call Watanabe's bluff and bluster on this. The Giants can't deny him the use of an agent, since that right was agreed on with the Japanese player's union.

- Does the Nikkan Sports article mention the name of the agent? Who is he and which company does he work for?

The agent's name has not been released, at least not by Nikkan Sports. NPB only recognizes members of the Japan Bar Association as agents, and they cannot represent more than one player at a time.

Predictably, the Giants have refused to allow the agent to negotiate without Uehara present, as is their right.

-Uehara has denied any desire to be posted.

I did not know that. If memory serves, he's expressed an interest in playing in MLB previously. Am I remembering incorrectly?

He has said that he wants to play in MLB eventually, but has explicitly said he will not asked to be posted this off-season.

I suspect his insistence on using an agent this time is to get this obstacle out of the way, so he can use the agent to get him posted in the future. (Next year perhaps?)

I should clarify. Uehara's said he is not interested in being posted at this time. And that the agent is purely for contract negotiation purposes.

Uehara's new contract was unveiled on TV tonight, as well as the surprising revelation that he did not officially have an agent.

He got a pay rise of about 90 million, and his annual salary is approximately 300 million.

However, the Giants were so against being seen allowing an agent that they let Uehara be accompanied by lawyer Kimihito Kato as an "advisor," as long as Uehara didn't file the papers needed to be represented by an agent. I guess the Giants think they managed to save face this way.

No-one is under any misapprehensions as to whether or not Uehara had an agent (whatever title you want to refer to the lawyer by), but the Giants' organisation just gets sadder and sadder each day.

Isn't this a perfect example of politiques Japonnais?

Do we believe that the Giants and Koji sat down for the first time on the 27th? Do we believe what the Giants want the media to believe and the media thus reports?

Nah, it appears the whole scenario was pre-arranged behind the scenes so everybody could be allowed to save their face on stage. Where have we heard that one before?

Ketsuron: This has been a modern day Chikamatsu Monzaemon puppet play for us mortals to enjoy.

Actually, we can probably believe that the Giants and Uehara sat down for the first time on the 27th, but the Giants and his agent had been having unofficial talks before this meeting. This is common practice (for both agents and players).

Is this whole thing a play arranged by the Giants? I don't think so. According to Nikkan Sports, here's the timeline:

• Late October: Attorney Kimihito Kato first meets team president Hideaki Miyama. He gives him his business card and naturally introduces himself as Uehara's agent (dairinin).


• Early November: According to Kato, the negotiations get serious. He meets with Miyama four or five times, as well as talking by telephone. He asks Uehara not to reveal the status of negotiations to the press. During the Olympic qualifiers, Uehara says he only wants to focus on the qualifiers, and will talk with the Giants afterward. On the subject of negotiation via agent, the Giants say "It's not that we don't recognize it; it's that we don't desire it."


• November 27th: Uehara formally meets with the Giants, accompanied by Kato, and signs a 3-oku yen deal. Kato and Uehara express satisfaction with the deal and the negotiations. However, Miyama says, "(Uehara) agreed to our first offer. This was a mutual meeting of adults," and "Because we did not receive documentation with Mr. Kato's bar association number on it, this was not negotiation via an agent." The JPBPA openly scoffs at this statement and the Giants reasoning, calling it "pathetic" and "quibbling over semantics."


• November 28th (breaking news!): Attorney Kimihito Kato sends a "statement of objection" to Giants' president Hideaki Miyama for his remarks the previous day, threatening possible legal action for defamation of character. Miyama claimed on the 27th that pursuant to Item 7 of the November 2000 owners meetings, the Giants had not received the proper paperwork from Kato. Kato claims that he properly completed all necessary procedures required by the JPBPA to become Uehara's agent. JPBPA director Toru Matsubara says, "Item 7 was not something negotiated by labor and management, and we do not recognize it as part of the agreement." Kato says that Miyama's remarks cast doubts on his qualifications as an agent and attorney.

So, rather than some "Japanese" politics to save face for all, it looks rather like the Giants resorted to a tortured loophole to try and save their anti-agent stance, succeeding in drawing the exasperation and disdain of the Players' Association and the press (if Nikkan Sports is any indication), and drawing the very real ire of Uehara's agent.

Good points. I have to go along with your argument.

The 27th was a signing ceremony and all negotiations had been concluded beforehand. But if it is true that Uehara agreed to the Giants' first offer, why did he keep saying that someone had to do this to change the Giants' stance on agents? It seems like a ghost fight. Koji and the Giants pretending to be fighting out an "issue," where in reality they had already reached an agreement.

- But if it is true that Uehara agreed to the Giants' first offer, why did he keep saying that someone had to do this to change the Giants' stance on agents? It seems like a ghost fight. Koji and the Giants pretending to be fighting out an "issue," where in reality they had already reached an agreement.

Because Uehara didn't agree to the Giants first offer; that was a little spin doctoring by Miyama. Officially, Uehara signed at their first negotiation meeting and ostensibly at the first offer. But, as you note, this was just a ritual negotiation. The agreement had been hammered out during the unofficial negotiations between Miyama and Kato, all during the last month.

I don't know that Uehara said anything about trying to change the Giants' stance on agents. The only thing I had read him as saying was that an agent was going to accompany him to his November 27 meeting with the Giants. Myself and others at JapaneseBaseball.com suggested that Uehara was challenging the Giants' stance on agents, simply for the fact that he was the first Giants' player to bring an agent to the table.

But as far as what Uehara actually said, going by what I've read in Nikkan Sports, Uehara has only given the usual platitudes regarding agents: "I want to concentrate on baseball, and leave the negotiations to a professional."

Also, there was no real fight about the issue of Uehara having an agent. The Giants had no ability to deny Uehara an agent, and at no time did they say they would try (only that it was nozomashiku nai - "not desirable"). They were actually pretty silent on the matter until the deal was signed.

My take is that, as far as negotiations-via-agent is concerned, the Giants caved as soon as Kato introduced himself to Miyama. What else could they do? But to keep the inevitable press rush of such a development from complicating negotiations, Kato asked Uehara to keep it quiet until the deal was in place. Once everything was agreed upon, Uehara announced his meeting, and the press jumped on the story. But by that time, really, there was not much to report. The deal was signed, Uehara and Kato were happy, and Miyama did his spin doctoring.

I am impressed by your knowledge on this subject CJ. You must be unimpressed by mine.

So the deal was basically a smooth ride from a Giants' point of view. They just had to take a minor "agent" bump, which they took in typical Giants' fashion. The press must feel pretty frustrated, though, because they were kept out of the loop.

On a different note: Do you feel independent reporting on the Giants' is possible, or is there some kind of invisible pact in place that makes reporting on the Giants' dirt difficult, if not impossible?

In my quest for good sources on the Giants I would be obliged if you could recommend any books about Watanabe in English.

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

- I am impressed by your knowledge on this subject CJ. You must be unimpressed by mine.

Nah. I'm just able to read Japanese, so I have access to a few more information resources, I suppose. But that's why I'm here at JapaneseBaseball.com. I try to relay on some of that info. Haven't been doing it as much as I use to.

Oh, and it's CFiJ, please.

- So the deal was basically a smooth ride from a Giants' point of view. They just had to take a minor "agent" bump, which they took in typical Giants' fashion.

As smooth as any superstar negotiation goes, I imagine. The agent thing had to come eventually.

- The press must feel pretty frustrated, though, because they were kept out of the loop.

No doubt. They're usually so good about ferrating this kind of stuff out, too.

- On a different note: Do you feel independent reporting on the Giants' is possible, or is there some kind of invisible pact in place that makes reporting on the Giants' dirt difficult, if not impossible?

I would say that the sports dailies (with the exception of those belonging to the Yomiuri Group, of course) are generally independent. But they are really the place to go for commentary, whether on the Giants or anything. When they comment on something, it's generally in an aside, or in the framing of a story. Nikkan Sports, for example, clearly doesn't buy Miyama's explanation about Item 7.

The non-sports tabloids, OTOH, are crazy bulls in a china shop. Shuukan Post, Weekly Playboy, etc. can and go over the top in criticizing whomever they want, even the Giants, glibly quoting unnamed (*cough*made-up*cough*) sources, and generally using language that would give a heart attack to anyone harboring idealized stereotypes of the Japanese as being a completely civil, non-confrontational people. Of course, being tied to no one, and being wild-cards by anyone's standards, the tabloids can get away with this.

There are any number of critical books about the Giants, written by ex-players, freelance writers, and anti-Kyojin. I have a few books (in Japanese) by Masayuki Tamaki, who is a loud criticizing voice when it comes to the Giants. (Tamaki-san, among other things, did the Japanese translation of Whiting's "You Gotta Have Wa"). Major publications like Shuukan Baseball and Number keep the rhetoric toned down, but the Giants take their hits.

- In my quest for good sources on the Giants I would be obliged if you could recommend any books about Watanabe in English.

I'm afraid that I can't think of any. If Robert Whiting finishes his follow up to YGHW, I imagine he'll have a whole chapter devoted to Watanabe and the Giants. But in terms of English resources, there simply aren't very many for Japanese baseball in general, let alone Watanabe in specific.

Thanks for the tips CFiJ.

Off topic: My goal is to be able to read Nikkan Sports and books like Tamaki-san's as well. I am taking the 3-kyu noryoku shiken next Sunday, so I still have some serious work ahead of me. What level would you say is needed for reading these sports pages? (1-kyu?) I would welcome any suggestions regarding studying Japanese for sports reading purposes. E.g. is there anything easy available like Sports Illustrated for Kids type of magazine? Something to start out with? These papers are still out of my league for now.

Thanks in advance.

Sports dailies like Nikkan Sports are not especially hard, and much easier than a standard newspaper like Asahi Shinbun. They are intended for an audience that includes many people who did not go to college. Actually, I recall having to read the front page of a sports daily describing Nomo's Colorado no-hitter when I was in third-year Japanese in college. It took the better part of a week, and involved a lot of vocab look-up, but I was able to read the article, and I was probably not 3-kyuu material at that time.

I've never taken the Nouryoku-shiken (although I have studied for it), but I know I could easily pass 2-kyuu right now, without even studying. But, one reason for that is because I've striven to read sports dailies.

One great resource for reading I've found is Nihongo nouryoku shiken ni deru bunpou for 2-kyuu and 1-kyuu, by Matsuoka Tatsumi and Tsuji Nobuyo. My copies of these books were published in 1997 and are rather out of date now as study aids for the nouryoku shiken, but they still provide wonderful grammar resources. The books are entirely in Japanese, but what they do is provide simpler glosses for the more complex grammar constructions. Someone reading a sports daily may come across the phrase "Jaiantsu ni oite wa" and think, "Huh? What does ni oite wa mean?" But a quick search of the index of one of these books provides this gloss: "de wa."

What I would suggest, as far as reading sports info, is to go to a sports daily website armed with a dictionary, and a book or books like the ones suggested above. Scan the headlines, and pick out some that look interesting to you. Click through them and find one of reasonably short length. The breaking news stories are probably very good for this, as they aren't too dense. Find an article that you think you can probably handle, nothing too big, maybe two or three paragraphs, and make that your homework for the day. Try to get an understanding of the article before the next day's news gets put up. At this point, you're simply trying to improve your reading ability, so read to grasp the gist of the article, not for word-by-word translation. Read the article in a series of scans. Read the article straight through without looking anything up, just reading as much as you can make out. Then do a vocab scan: go through the article and look up all the vocab words and compounds you don't know. If you have the time and inclination, make up a vocab list of these. Then do a grammar scan, trying to figure out all the grammar you don't know. This will be the toughest one, as there will almost always be some grammar you can't quite figure out. Then do a final reading for reading comprehension.

The idea is to not stop bit-by-bit to look up new words and grammar as you read, because this will slow you down and make you lose sight of the article as a whole. Instead, break it down into layers of understanding. When I was 3-kyuu material, and working on my senior project in Japanese Language and Lit, I was able to effectively read three Amy Yamada short stories in this fashion. (My translation of them sucked rocks, but at least I understood them! ) Sports dailies' articles are much, much easier than short fiction.

Thanks. It sounds like a good and fun way to improve my Japanese. I use similar Nouryoku Shiken preparation books by Unicom Publishers, and I am certainly going to try your Nikkan Sports suggestions. I take it you live in Japan and have ample access to the sporst dailies. But the Internet is a good substitute. I hope to be able to discuss Uehara's next contract negotation with you in Japanese .

- I take it you live in Japan and have ample access to the sporst dailies. But the Internet is a good substitute.

Actually, I'm back in the States and the Internet is all I have (except for a soon to arrive subscription to Ozumo magazine!). I used to live in Japan and had a subscription to Nikkan Sports. But you know, the Internet is so much easier. Old newspapers tend to pile up.

- I hope to be able to discuss Uehara's next contract negotation with you in Japanese.

Word of the day: horyuu - when a player and team meet in negotiations but are unable to come to an agreement.

In the spirit of learning Japanese. Here is a website: Jeffrey's Japanese<->English Dictionary. It's a two way translating dictionary. You can write words in English to get the Japanese definitions, and you can write words in Japanese or Romaji to get English definitions. It is very useful especially if you're reading online material because you can just copy/paste the word and find out what it means.

Actually, let me suggest a better dictionary: the Goo Jisho. Not only does it include full English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionary, with fuller entries than Jeff Friedl's dictionary, but it also includes a Japanese-Japanese (kokugo) dictionary, which I think becomes more valuable as one's level improves. The only downside is that it requires a Japanese IME to use the J-E and J-J dictionaries, while Friedl's dictionary can work with romaji. However, Japanese IME's are easily gotten for Windows 98, 2000, ME, and XP, as well as Linux. I don't know about Macs, but I imagine they are out there.

[Westbaystars: There's one in my Mac, but it was bought in Japan.]

Good stuff. I am learning at a dazzling rate here. I am trying to make my study of Japanese a bit more fun and I think this puts me on the right track.

Let me suggest a new katakana word here:

Bentura (wo suru) - when a sports jock ventures into politics and proves himself completely useless.

Could be used regarding the pro-res guy in Iwata or maybe Swarzenegger in a few months. CFiJ, being from Minnesota, I take it you are familiar with the origins of this 'goi' .

Well, I have just tried to read a Nikkan Sports Internet piece about Ichiro coming back to Japan using the Goo dictionary. It's great, but takes quite some time. I have to say it is easier then using my electronic dictionary because you can copy-paste on the computer. Then I ran the article through Babelfish which was a good laugh. It is going to cost a lot of translators their job when they manage to improve Babelfish. For now it's still pretty funny though. But I have to admit you do get the general meaning of the article. This is what I will continue doing to improve my Japanese.

Any other suggestions are more then welcome. You guys have made my study a lot more fun. All thanks to Koji.