In 1934, Babe Ruth stepped foot in Japan, and he was greeted like royalty. He wasn’t alone; he was with Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and other icons. They had come to play a barnstorming tour across the country. More than half a million fans had come to welcome them in the city. They had played 18 games then, and well, Americans won all 18. Fast forward 90+ years, and MLB isn’t just visiting Japan. They are watching how baseball and Shohei Ohtani have taken over the country.
The sport may be America’s pastime, but for Japan it’s their true obsession, even overtaking their national sport—sumo. But why? Japan is a country that reveres strategy, combat, and discipline—and baseball fits right in. The pitcher versus batter duel almost mirrors the intense sumo standoff. But if you are doubting whether Sumo was really overthrown by baseball, you need to look at Tokyo Dome this week.
In a country where sumo tournaments sell out, it was shocking that MLB created an even greater frenzy. People were lined up everywhere, from outside the merchandise store to even paying huge amounts to see players practice. Not even the real game. And for the actual game, the ticket prices reached an absurd level. Anti-scalping laws were brought in 2019 to curb resellers; however, the demand for the Tokyo Series broke all the limits. The ticket with a ¥13,000 ($86) face value? Resold for ¥2.5 million ($17,000) as per Japan Times.
And at the center of all this is, of course, Shohei Ohtani! As Mariko Sakakibara, the UCLA professional, said, in Japan, fans don’t watch games for the team but for the players. And there is none bigger than Shohei Ohtani right now. And big is actually an understatement because it is impossible to put into words his popularity. But he is everywhere, from Shibuya crossing in a massive billboard to green tea bottles in a supermarket to banners above the head.
Fanatics reported that Sho’s merchandise itself accounted for 57% of its sales in Japan in the last five years—just goes to show the popularity! But such was the craze that even Shohei Ohtani reportedly got nervous. But now that he carries the torch of baseball in Japan, where did this baseball obsession start in Japan?
How Shohei Ohtani and generations before him made baseball a true obsession
Sold-out stadiums, fans shelling thousands to watch their icons, a passion so big that it makes America’s love for the sport look mild. And no, it didn’t begin with Babe Ruth. By the time Ruth set foot in Tokyo, baseball had already woven itself into the country’s identity. The real point came in 1896 when a group of Japanese students from Tokyo’s First Higher School—called Ichiko—faced a team of American businessmen and missionaries from the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club. And what happened next shocked everyone!
Ichiko won! They obliterated the Americans 29-4. Newspapers ran with this story like wild birds. Japan thought they were falling behind in the world, and here they saw they could win. Soon kids were playing with makeshift bats and balls. However, Japan didn’t just adopt the sport; they made it their own.
They brought in the Japanese discipline. So unlike America, where it was a seasonal sport, they played year-round! And two people who were the most famous in the 1960s were Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima. But the only one who showed Japanese stars can shine in MLB is Masanori Murakami.
And Murakami is as thrilled to see the MLB craze, or Shohei Ohtani mania, in Japan now. “Everyone in Japan is going to be watching for Ohtani on TV. The old people say, ‘He’s such a good boy,’ and the young girls say, ‘Oh, he’s so cool,” said Murakami. And who can disagree? But Murakami ran, so these stars of today, like Ohtani, Roki Sasaki, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, could walk.
Baseball now, for sure, is no longer just an imported sport; it’s part of their culture.
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