Culture?
Discussion in the Ask the Commish forum
Comments
Re: Culture?
[ Author: SFGiantsFan | Posted: Jan 28, 2005 9:31 AM
]
I think maybe you mean "too lightly"? But actually, I'm not sure to whom this post is addressed.
If you would care to enlighten the rest of us about Japanese baseball, I would love it. That's the reason I am here. Tell me more.
As far as the team's web sites, some I can find on the web, some not. Care to post any URLs? Particularly the new Rakuten team as I am adopting them.
If you would care to enlighten the rest of us about Japanese baseball, I would love it. That's the reason I am here. Tell me more.
As far as the team's web sites, some I can find on the web, some not. Care to post any URLs? Particularly the new Rakuten team as I am adopting them.
Re: Culture?
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: Jan 28, 2005 9:49 AM
| YBS Fan
]
Interesting observation. I think you're right in that I've lost my focus on addressing cultural issues and now tend to just discuss current news and stats. The thing is, the site evolved this way because that's what people have been asking about - news and stats in English.
While you and I can just go to the team sites to get scores, schedules, stats, player profiles, etc., a majority of the people who come to this site cannot read Japanese. Not even Katakana. Before anyone can begin to understand the Japanese culture without actually living in Japan, they need some sort of reference to go by. News and discussion about the news, while not directly about cross cultural issues, serves as a point of reference to observe a different culture. There are a number of threads that cultural differences are brought up in, even if those differences are not the main subject of the threads.
What's more, the information I get and pass along comes mostly from either Nikkan Sports (a daily Japanese sports newspaper) or Shukan Baseball (a weekly Japanese baseball magazine). All articles from these two sources are written in Japanese, by Japanese, for Japanese, with a Japanese perspective. While I may have only lived in Japan for close to 18 years and therefore cannot grasp the fullness of Japanese culture, I think that some aspects of Japanese culture come out in my writing.
As for ball club e-mail addresses, I've looked through the official sites every spring and come up empty (except for how to contact the webmaster of a few sites - which is most often a different company). At your request, I did a quick look through the six Pa-League team official sites as linked from NPB.or.jp. I see that Seibu has a fan-letter address now. But that was the only one with a link from the top page. Lotte and Nippon Ham both have addresses to the web site creator.
History? Actually, that's a weak point for me personally. What I know about Japanese baseball is what I've seen since I started really getting Pro Yakyu in 1991. But back then, I only paid attention to the Giants until 1995. In 1995 I started writing on the Internet about Pro Yakyu as there was nothing there in English. This opened my eyes to Pro Yakyu as a whole. My day job, though, is that of computer programmer. I practice/play softball every other weekend (between February and November) with a team of Japanese in the local area I live in.
I've read Whiting's books as well as Cromartie's "Slugging it out in Japan." Marty's and Wayne's stuff in the newspapers have really turned me off of the English press in Japan. (I know now that it's not entirely their fault - part of the problem is the time that the English papers go to press, i.e. before most games have ended, so they prefer fluff pieces to fill space.) Do you have a particular recommendation?
Now, while it's not really ready for the official unveiling (some things may change), Eng-san and I have been putting together a Pro Yakyu Wiki of which the two major categories include an Encyclopedia and a Research Projects section. A major reason I haven't been participating in the forum lately has been work on the Wiki and entering players into my Player Meikan for 2005. Nonetheless, if you think you can add to the cross-cultural knowledge between NPB and MLB, please create an account and let me know what you want to do (create a cross-cultural research project or add to the Encyclopedia).
While you and I can just go to the team sites to get scores, schedules, stats, player profiles, etc., a majority of the people who come to this site cannot read Japanese. Not even Katakana. Before anyone can begin to understand the Japanese culture without actually living in Japan, they need some sort of reference to go by. News and discussion about the news, while not directly about cross cultural issues, serves as a point of reference to observe a different culture. There are a number of threads that cultural differences are brought up in, even if those differences are not the main subject of the threads.
What's more, the information I get and pass along comes mostly from either Nikkan Sports (a daily Japanese sports newspaper) or Shukan Baseball (a weekly Japanese baseball magazine). All articles from these two sources are written in Japanese, by Japanese, for Japanese, with a Japanese perspective. While I may have only lived in Japan for close to 18 years and therefore cannot grasp the fullness of Japanese culture, I think that some aspects of Japanese culture come out in my writing.
As for ball club e-mail addresses, I've looked through the official sites every spring and come up empty (except for how to contact the webmaster of a few sites - which is most often a different company). At your request, I did a quick look through the six Pa-League team official sites as linked from NPB.or.jp. I see that Seibu has a fan-letter address now. But that was the only one with a link from the top page. Lotte and Nippon Ham both have addresses to the web site creator.
History? Actually, that's a weak point for me personally. What I know about Japanese baseball is what I've seen since I started really getting Pro Yakyu in 1991. But back then, I only paid attention to the Giants until 1995. In 1995 I started writing on the Internet about Pro Yakyu as there was nothing there in English. This opened my eyes to Pro Yakyu as a whole. My day job, though, is that of computer programmer. I practice/play softball every other weekend (between February and November) with a team of Japanese in the local area I live in.
I've read Whiting's books as well as Cromartie's "Slugging it out in Japan." Marty's and Wayne's stuff in the newspapers have really turned me off of the English press in Japan. (I know now that it's not entirely their fault - part of the problem is the time that the English papers go to press, i.e. before most games have ended, so they prefer fluff pieces to fill space.) Do you have a particular recommendation?
Now, while it's not really ready for the official unveiling (some things may change), Eng-san and I have been putting together a Pro Yakyu Wiki of which the two major categories include an Encyclopedia and a Research Projects section. A major reason I haven't been participating in the forum lately has been work on the Wiki and entering players into my Player Meikan for 2005. Nonetheless, if you think you can add to the cross-cultural knowledge between NPB and MLB, please create an account and let me know what you want to do (create a cross-cultural research project or add to the Encyclopedia).
Re: Culture?
[ Author: Kiyoshi | Posted: Jan 28, 2005 9:57 AM
| HAN Fan
]
Who are you talking about when you say "you"? The people who post on this site are from many differentt cultural backgrounds including Japanese. Many different topics have been discussed and analyzed over the years on this web site, including the cultural differences in baseball. Despite these differences, baseball fans in Japan appreciate MLB and many Americans are discovering NPB.
Re: Culture?
[ Author: Guest: Pat Morita | Posted: Jan 30, 2005 2:13 PM
]
Culture in baseball,
Like kinds of cherry blossoms,
Is less than the fruit.
Like kinds of cherry blossoms,
Is less than the fruit.
About
This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.
It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.
Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Some rights reserved.
You said stuff about spams, where did you look? This site misunderstands everyone. Just by lack of effort, you would not get the deatails unless you are Japaese. As a Japanese baseball fan, don't take us easy.
What do you know about Japanese baseball? Just a history? Japanese baseball has more than that. Read Robert Whiting's books and Marty's analyical stuff. You take us Japanese too easy.