The sport is American, the location South Korean. But when the LA Dodgers and San Diego Padres open the Major League Baseball season with two games in Seoul this week, all eyes will be on a Japanese superstar: Shohei Ohtani.
It says a lot about Ohtani’s special appeal that South Korean baseball fans are as excited about his upcoming presence in the Gocheok Sky Dome batter’s box as his legions of admirers in Japan.
The 29-year-old is widely regarded as one of the most talented players in baseball history – a once-in-a-century phenomenon compared to another figure who played as a pitcher and a slugger: Babe Ruth.
After six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani signed a contract with the Dodgers in December will eventually see him earn $700 million – the richest contract in North American sports history.
It is no exaggeration to say that “Shotime” has been mentioned twice the American League’s most valuable player – has achieved national hero status in his native Japan since leaving the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters for the Angels in 2017, following the path set by his illustrious predecessors Hideo Nomo and Ichiro Suzuki.
Ohtani has eclipsed his yakyū fellow countrymen to become one of the most talked about baseball players in living memory. Not even the injury to his right elbow that will keep him off the pitching pile this season could dampen the sense of anticipation as the Dodgers arrived in South Korea for a series of warmups before MLB games on Wednesday and Thursday.
South Korean sports fans are not normally inclined to praise athletes from their great sports rival Japan, but South Korean sports fans make an exception for Ohtani, who reciprocated with positive messages on his Instagram account, declaring the South “one of my favorite countries”.
“The atmosphere in Korean society has often made it difficult for us to openly say that we love Japan,” said Lee Jong-Sung, a sports culture expert at Hanyang University in Seoul. “I think Ohtani might be the first Japanese athlete we can say we like. Perhaps some even consider him an honorary Korean citizen.”
This was reflected in a Korean-language post on X: “The country Ohtani loves most is South Korea. The Japanese that South Koreans love most is Ohtani,” the report said.
The Japanese representation will not be limited to Ohtani, who will be joined by teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto – who will make his MLB debut and is the most expensive pitcher in history – and, for the Padres, Yu Darvish and Yuki Matsui.
Ohtani fever has increased since he led his country to victory in the World Baseball Classic last year, with Japan beating the defending champions, the USA, in a 3-2 thriller.
After signing his record-setting contract with the Dodgers in December, Ohtani managed to parlay an eye-popping financial reward into a positive assessment of his character. annual increases from 2034 so they can now invest in more players.
He can do little wrong off the field either. Ohtani, a native of Japan’s northeastern region devastated by the March 2011 triple disaster, donated an undisclosed amount to the peninsula that was hit by a powerful earthquake on New Year’s Day. Last year he sent 60,000 baseball gloves to primary schools in Japan – enough for three gloves per school.
Like expat Japanese athletes before him, Ohtani is pursued by an army of journalists whose reports fill the pages of sports tabloids and serious newspapers alike. Column inches are dedicated to the latest news about his elbow injury and Ohtani’s dog, Dekopin.
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He is the public face of several companies, including Porsche, sportswear maker Asics, Japan Airlines and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank. Katsuhiro Miyamoto, a professor at Kansai University, estimated that its economic impact had reached ¥50.4 billion ($334 million) by the end of last year, adding that this would rise to ¥64.3 billion ($427 million) this year as Ohtani, who was a free agent when Miyamoto’s report was published, moved to the Dodgers.
“The economic impact of Ohtani’s success will be enormous,” he wrote, according to the Japan Times.
‘Sho fever’ can sometimes reach bizarre proportions. Japanese TV interrupted regular programming to report the breaking news of Ohtani’s surprise announcement that he had gotten married, with his wife’s identity not made public until weeks later – again to cover the media coverage. After becoming the first Japanese player to win the American League home run title in 2023, newspapers distributed special editions and Japan Post commemorative stamps issued and postcards. Last summer, the rice fields in his hometown were transformed into one giant illustration of his famous son.
The Dodgers arrived in Seoul at a rare moment of rapprochement between Japan and South Korea, whose conservative leaders have been trying to resolve bitter disputes arising from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula.
Yet few expected a Japanese athlete to enjoy this level of adulation in South Korea, where hundreds of fans greeted the Dodgers at Incheon airport last week, shouting Ohtani’s name and holding up replica jerseys. They were back in full swing on Monday, packing Gocheok Sky Dome to watch a warm-up match against the South Korean national team.
“He is god,” Kang Ji-ho, a baseball fan, told Agence France-Presse as he stood in line outside the 17,000-seat stadium, where tickets for Wednesday’s MLB opener sold out in minutes. “Japanese players are not popular in Korea, but Ohtani is different.”
Ohtani has established himself as an unparalleled all-around baseball player, a philanthropist and a respectful, if somewhat cautious, sports personality. This week he fulfills another, no less important role: that of goodwill ambassador.