ESPN has a *very* long article on 21-year old pitching phenom Yu Darvish. It covers his interesting background (his Iranian father met his Japanese mother in the U.S.!), impresssive ability, and celebrity status.
The article discusses whether (or when) Darvish will go to the U.S. to play and then pivots to discuss a lot about Japanese professional baseball including the impact of the exodus of top talent to the U.S. Case in point was the impact Ichiro’s departure had on his team; attendance plummeted and they were eventually merged with another team. Xenophobia, real or perceived, is also mentioned. Some found it suspicious that Darvish’s obvious talent was ignored by many teams.
The article ends by pivoting once again to discuss the future of Japanese baseball via little leaguers playing all over Japan and the contrast with American little leaguers.
It’s really an interesting article, as long as you have the time to read it!
Wonderful article, written by someone who really knows the game and Japan. Thanks for pointing this out to us!
“Three hours of running? In the sand? American kids won’t run three minutes unless they’re racing toward an Xbox or Wii at the end of an aisle at Target.”
But, I mean, OBVIOUSLY he got this detail wrong. Kids are the same everywhere . . .
Another interesting point was that none of the Japanese kids knew a thing about World War II. Says quite a bit about how the Japanese education system deals with the country’s history.
I was in a sushi restaurant in Tokyo, and the chef encouraged me to move to Japan. “We don’t start wars,” he said. I had to bite my tongue from responding, “In this century.”
I enjoyed much of the article and accompanying video, but I rolled my eyes at the “sacred” angle they put into it. I think it’s a combination of Americans not understanding why Japanese people bow and taking the Little League coach’s words a bit too literally. I doubt he is seriously teaching his players about seppuku.
Wait a minute… near-nekkid 21-year-old tall man-flesh and there’s no photo? What’s with that?!?!