Congrats to Godzilla

For the most part, this face dominates the advertising space in Japan:


And rightly so. Ichiro has done wonders bringing to light the talent and compassion Japan has invested in baseball for years. Ichiro has played for the Seattle Mariners in the United States since 2001 where he has showcased his talents as a hitting machine. Now, second only to the legendary Pete Rose for career hits, Ichiro has cemented himself with the baseball elite both in the States and of course, back in his native Japan. Thus, you can find Ichiro's face on numerous ads in Japan from Kirin beer, to NTT Telecommunications (above), to Mizuno sporting goods.

Yet, there is another power-house baseball player who has been working in the United States. Hideki Matsui, nicknamed, "Godzilla", has been playing with the New York Yankees since 2003. He is a power left-handed hitter who grew up a right-handed hitter. He changed to a lefty growing up in order to level the playing field with his friends. This advertisement for for Kirin's "Fire" Coffee brand came out a few months ago with his face on it. I remembered thinking that he is often overshadowed by Ichiro, and this was one of the few ads I had seen of him.

Matsui's performance in the 2009 World Series with the Yankees might change that a little. He not only helped the Yankees to victory, but won the World Series MVP award by tying a World Series record with 6 RBIs in the decisive game. When you think about it, it's pretty impressive that Matsui bats clean-up in a Yankees lineup worth over $300 million and half of whom will arguable end up in the hall of fame. Maybe even Matsui himself.

Congrats to Matsui, and to the people of Japan who support their ambassadors of baseball. Matsui enters the off-season a free-agent and who knows where he'll land. Rumors have circulated he would go play with Ichiro in Seattle, return back to Japan to play for the team he supported as a kid, the Hanshin Tigers, or maybe even be re-signed by the Yankees. Although, he's 35 and showing his age in the outfield, his face alone brings in millions from Japanese advertisers and fans. One thing is for sure, though, we'll probably be seeing a lot more of Matsui's face in advertisements around here!

Climaxing

While the baseball playoffs are well underway back in the States, this weekend brings the beginning of the Japan baseball league playoffs. Better known here as the "Climax Series."

There are a total of twelve professional baseball teams here in Japan, and much like the US's Major League Baseball there is an American League and a National League. Only they are called the Pacific League and the Central League (six teams in each). Each year, these teams battle to reach their climax. Sorry, to reach the Climax Series.

The top three teams in each league's standings by year's end move on. In the first round of the Climax Series, the 2nd and 3rd place teams fight in a three-game series for the right to move on to round two where the 1st place team is waiting. Round two is a six-game series, which seems odd because usually you need an odd even of games to determine a series winner. But not in Japan. For winning your league during the regular season, not only do you get an automatic pass to round two, but you start with an automatic one game lead in the six-game series. The winner is the first to four wins. Confusing, but fun nonetheless, especially with all the climaxing.

Finally, the winner of the Pacific League Climax Series moves on to face the winner of the Central League Climax Series in the Japan Series best of seven. The winner is the champion of Japan.

This weekend we'll be rooting for our hometown boys, the Nagoya Dragons. They finished second to the Tokyo Giants (aka. Yankees of Japan), which means they will face the third place Yakult Swallows in the first round of the Central League Climax Series. Go Dragons!

I'm hoping a Japan Series playoff run by our adopted Japan team will make up for the void left by our precious Detroit Tiger's late-season collapse back in the States. But enough moping, it's time to Climax!!!

Blog Endorsement from an Unlikely Source

Last weekend, we were privileged to attend the first day of the 15-day Nagoya Sumo Tournament. Herban Girl details the sumo and tournament background here.

I wanted to share this particular clip from the event. Sumo is an amazing mix of culture and tradition. It seems some of the ceremonies and gestures were just as important as the actual fight. The ceremony shown in the clip occurred just prior to the top grouping's fights, the Yokozuna group.

This ceremony is performed by one of the fighters in the Yokozuna group along with his two attendants from a lower rank and a senior gyoji (referee). You'll see the Yokozuna clap his hands, extend and show his hands, and then stomp on the ground. The hands are clapped to call attention to the gods, the hands are then extended and both sides are shown to reveal that no weapons are concealed, and the stomp is intended to drive evil from the dohyo (ring).

By far the best part of this is the stomp when the crowd simultaneously yells what else, "YOISHO!"

Soccer Shoes

Soccer shoes have changed quite a bit since I last had to buy them back in high school. Shin pads have morphed quite a bit as well. Fortunately, playing the game I grew up with for so many years managed to linger long enough in my feet that I wasn't too rusty when I decided to strap the boots back on here in Nagoya.

Back in March, my wife had found an ad in the ex-pat newsletter for the Shonai FC soccer team. Nothing official, just a group of fellow ex-pats from all over the world who love the game of soccer and get together and play every Sunday at The Shonai-Ryokuchi Park in northern Nagoya.

Thanks to some encouragement from my wife - and some new shoes she bought me for my birthday - I've been playing ever since and really look forward to it every week. Ages range from 23 to 45, and backgrounds are from England, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Romania, France, and yes, Japan.

Besides meeting fellow ex-pats, it has also offered a chance to see different parts of Japan. Tournaments are held a few times throughout the year for ex-pat teams from all over the country. Back in May we went south to the Awaji-island tournament (near Osaka), and there's a Nagano tournament in the fall. The competition is fun and in some weird way it's like fulfilling a boyhood dream of playing internationally!

Ichiro vs. The #42

In honor of the great Jackie Robinson and his contributions to baseball, the MLB designated April 15th as Jackie Robinson day. To celebrate this day, every baseball player across the league wore jerseys with Jackie Robinson's #42 on them. It was a fitting symbol of unity paying tribute to Jackie Robinson's pivotal role in breaking the color barrier for African Americans in baseball when he broke into the league 61 years ago for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

I wonder if someday, major leaguers will wear Ichiro Suzuki's number for a day of celebrating his contributions to the sport. Not only is he a future hall-of-famer in American baseball, but his success in the big leagues has helped pave the way for Japanese baseball players. He wasn't the first Japanese baseball player in the major leagues, but he is arguably one of the most successful. In fact, his numbers certainly make him one of the top baseball players of all time. His accomplishments have made him an instantly recognizable icon and a legend in Japan. He has a career .331 batting average since entering the league in 2001 and has remained a Seattle Mariner for his entire career. He has certainly done a lot in his brief career, but wearing Jackie Robinson's number 42 on Jackie Robinson day recently, had to be one of his bigger challenges.

See, the irony of the number 42 is that it comes with a bit of stigma to the Japanese culture. In the same way we are taught to think of 13 as unlucky, or 666 as evil, the number 42 has a negative stigma as well. I had heard that the number 4 carried a stigma with it. In Japanese 4 can be pronounced "shi", which is also how the word for death, "shinu", starts. So, the number 4 signifies death. We noticed the extent to this stigma when we first stayed in our hotel on our preview trip. The number 4 did not appear on the list of buttons in the elevator. I hadn't know about the number 42, though. Apparently 42 can be taken to mean "dead people". You see, 2 is pronounced, "ni" in Japanese, which is similar to the counter for people, pronounced, "nin". So, 42 in Japanese can be seen as "shi nin", or "dead people." Quite a stigma, huh?

So how did Ichiro fare wearing such a terrible number during his game on Jackie Robinson Day? He met the challenge with a 2 hit, 4 RBI night. One of those hits was a grand slam! So much for a negative stigma.