Baseball

Exactly when baseball arrived in Japan isn't clear. Horace Wilson, a professor in Tokyo,

is credited with introducing the American game to his students during the Meiji Era

(1867-1912). This was the beginning of the assimilation of the Western game which the

Japanese named Yakkyu, meaning "field ball." Since then, the game has developed into a

During the Meiji restoration, as the Japanese began a process of modernization,

they adopted many Western ideas. Western sports started to be introduced at this time,

particularly baseball. According to Robert Whiting, the Japanese found the one-on-one

battle between pitcher and batter similar in psychology to their native sumo and martial

arts. It involved split second timing and a special harmony of mental and physical

strength. Because of this, the Ministry of Education believed it was good for the national

character and encouraged its growth.

By the early twentieth century, the game flourished in schools and colleges.

The high school and college leagues are structured a lot like American leagues only in a

bigger way. Every year there are national high school baseball tournaments in the

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One physician claimed that it was bad for the development of the personality because of "mental pressure," and that throwing a baseball all the time caused lopsided body development.

Today, baseball in Japan is one of the most heavily attended sporting events in

the country. They are divided into

two, six team leagues: the Central League and the Pacific League.

Matsutara Shoriki, owner of another popular newspaper, argued in favor of

baseball; he seemed to be more influential.

According to Whiting, as Japan began to rebuild from a devastating defeat in

World War II, Allied high command officials recognized baseball's potential for boosting

morale and allowed it to resume.

There has been some rumors in the past that school booster clubs have offered the

officials money to help with the selection process. In America we try to make

lessons and draw analogies to baseball as to who we are. It was not until 1939 that their chief rivals, the Giants, began to

dominate. As baseball in

Japan was becoming more organized and popular, war broke out, causing interest to wane

because of more important matters. The Tokyo Roku Daigaku (Tokyo Six Universities) and the

Toto (Tokyo Metropolitan) League. This is generally a losing proposition for

the foreign player, because if the foreign player does not perform well, the team will

question his ability, and if he does play well, then he cannot be the star of the team

because he is not Japanese.

Ideologically, the idea behing the game is a little different. Baseball is seen in Japan as a

reflection of something the Japanese made in their own image. According to MCB, the stadiums became

ammo dumps or were torn down for land to grow barley.

Approximate Word count = 1938
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

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