Anti-Kyojin

> Isn't support of the Yomiuri Giants a majority
> position in Japanese public opinion? The readership
> of this site seems unanimously anti-Kyojin. Any
> thoughts as to why?

I don't know about the readership, but the majority of those contributing are not Japanese. Your typical Japanese Kyojin fan grew up rooting for the Giants before he/she realized how much they monopolized the system. Those of us who come into it fresh, from an outsider's point of view, see how the Giants enjoy a greater advantage in NPB than the Yankees do in MLB, and are probably turned off by that. Also, most foreigners are used to and comfortable with the idea of regional loyalties, so we tend to root for those teams that come from the areas we live in or have lived in. Westbay-san and Yokohama, for example, or myself and Kansai teams.

You're right, there is a lot of anti-Kyojin sentiment around here. I attribute it to most gaijin preferring the underdog over the wealthy. As you point out, the Giants have the greatest mind-share, like Microsoft in the computer world. And as with Microsoft, this has both good and bad consequences.

On the positive side, there is a single identity (interface) to which all can relate to. This brings about a unity in the community/society - a compatibility for communication.

On the down side, before Sky Perfect TV (and cable TV to carry it to people without a satalite dish) the Giants pretty much had a national monopoly on the tube (much like Microsoft has on Intel based computers throughout the world now). For most people, there simply was no choice.

Yet, there are alternatives to both the Giants and Microsoft. Local channels in Kansai cover the Tigers, as TV Kanagawa carries many BayStars' games and Saitama TV carries Lions' games. In the computer world there is the Mac as a major contender, but generally only for small (local?) markets. Fukuoka and Hiroshima hold a great deal of mind share in their local markets, like Mac users unwilling to convert over to the Dark Side.

What Sky Sports has done, tough, is give people around the country a true alternative to the Giants, as the Open Source movement gives computer enthusiests more of a choice in operating systems, browsers, databases, everything. And choice is a Good Thing^TM.

There are many more similarities between the Giants and Microsoft. For example, Watanabe-owner has more control over Pro Yakyu than the Commissioner himself just as Bill Gates and company act completely in contempt to the Justice Department, flagrantly abusing their monopoly power even after being warned in a previous anti-trust case started around 1995, then found guilty of anti-trust abuse this year.

Pro Yakyu is not being allowed to expand to have inter-league play due to the "Giants' Factor" whereby no Central League teams are willing to give up any games with the Giants for games with the Pacfic League. Microsoft creates deals with hardware manufacturers such that they must include MS software on their machines in order to get any kind of discount. These practices put Be (a very easy to use, multi-media OS) out of business, as well as put a damper on other alternative operating systems' acceptance.

Then the Giants, with the financial power of the Yomiuri Group behind it, can get the best players money can buy. Not only can they afford 1.5 times the previous years' salary to afford free agents, but they can also tempt perspective pros with money "under the table" and large signing bonuses. And it often seems like they do this to keep other teams from getting stronger, leaving many players to spend their careers at 2-gun without much chance of becoming a star at the top level. Microsoft uses this same technique to kill off their competition. They buy inovations (or flat out copy them and claim them as their own). How many of you remember a company named "Liquid Reality"? They had a great VRML plug-in a number of years ago for both Netscape and IE. Well, their next generation plug-in was just about to be released for Netscape when Microsoft bought them out. The buy out meant that the release was to be postponed until an IE version was also ready. The logo on their home page went from being a "liquid metal" female figure to a cube, sphere, and cone, completely killing all identity their company had. I've never heard if that next version was ever released or not, but VRML quickly disappeared soon after that, even though it was just starting to become interesting. I strongly feel that MS is responsible for killing the entire VRML industry as nobody was then interested in filling a need if MS was going to target their segment for extinction next, much like even Fuji TV is unuable to get sponsors to televise a completee Yakult vs. Yokohama game.

Becoming a Giants' fan for most of the country is the path of least resistance, just like getting a computer pre-installed with a Microsoft OS, MS Office, and Internet Explorer is. Once fans "graduate" from being a Giants' fan and realize that there is a lot more exciting baseball out there, they are really in for a treat, and tend to be the type of people who join web logs like this to expound their knowledge. Of course, many graduate and remain Giants' fans, and there is nothing wrong with that.

In the computer world, many of us have graduated from being MS users and have been opened up to a more efficient, more secure, more manageable way of doing things. (I always feel locked in using MS software, unable to customize it to the way I work, but having to adjust to the way MS thinks I should work.) Of corse, once one understands a computer and the consequences of being locked in to Microsoft's way, MS does still provide a way of doing things that work for some.

To conclude, it's been my observation that most knowlegable Pro Yakyu have gotten beyond the popularity of "Japan's Team" to see good in other teams. Most people who have gotten to that point also have opinions of their own which they are willing to express on web logs like this, something that most Giants' fan "sheep" don't. I just wonder why more people don't learn more about computers to be more comfortable to try alternatives to Microsoft. (Brain washing? Or MS dumbing down their software so that people aren't interested in exploring on their own?)

Westbay san,

Looks like you're on a crusade against M$. I will be going Linux on my main rig pretty soon. The only reason why I have M$ is because my workplace lives on the junk.

As for Kyojin and its fans, you summed it up real well with "Becoming a Giants' fan for most of the country is the path of least resistance"! I have many friends who are not baseball fans but are Kyojin fans. They cling to Kyojin because of the winning tradition and star power, not the baseball aspect of the team. I WANT to see Matsui diss Watanabe for the MLB, or some other team in NPB. He is one of my favorite players and he has to be on my most hated team.

morosuki

- Looks like you're on a crusade against M$.

Yes, I am. But when I talk about it, it's usually too technical for a lot of people to grasp. My brother thinks I'm turning into the "Unibomber" (I thought it was "UNA-Bomber," but...). But I think that this helps give people something to relate the MS problem to. Of course in Watanabe's favor, he's never tried to destroy the public education system of wards that opposed him to my knowledge.

The big question with Matsui will be, will he sell out (as most of the computer industry did), or will he be Free (like Open Source)?

I can back up CFIJ-san's opinion when he says "Most foreigners are used to and comfortable with the idea of regional loyalties, so we tend to root for teams that come from the areas we live in or have lived in."

In '92 & '93, when I was in the Nagoya area, I attended many Dragons games and followed them closely. I have kept my allegiance to them, though I often wish they were more dynamic and feel they are often overlooked.

When I get back to Japan every summer, I am usually able to catch a game. For all the warts and deficiencies of the old stadium, I have to admit it was more exciting to watch games there from the bleachers than it is now in that sterile dome!

As for being anti-Kyojin, once I figured out what was going on in Japanese baseball, this came naturally to me. I have no problem rooting against the Yankees and Cardinals (being a hopelessly loyal Cub fan)here in the US. It's the same in regards to the Giants in Japan.

I'm Japanese, and my dad was a big-time Kyojin fan, but I hate the Giants with a passion so it's not just the foreigners on this site who hate the Giants. However, to my dismay, I have many Japanese friends who absolutely love the Giants.
The Giants have such an advantage over the other teams that it's not even funny. I hate all the free-agents who leave other teams to play for the Giants like Eto, Kiyohara, Kudo, etc. but in all honesty I would've done the same thing if I was in their shoes.