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 popular pastime for the Japanese.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 (p.6). 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. According to Microsoft's Complete Baseball (MCB), Scholastic baseball had--and still has--the same grip on Japanese fans that college football bowl games or the March Madness basketball tournament has on fans in the U.S..
Although baseball was becoming increasingly popular with many, others were reluctant to adopt the Western sport. According to Whiting, the influential conservative daily Asahi Shinbun ran an editorial series entitled, "The Evil of Baseball," quoting several leading educators who opposed the game. 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 (p.34).
Matsutara Shoriki, owner of another popular newspaper, argued in favor of baseball; he seemed to be more influential. Shoriki, who later became known as "the great genius-father figure of Japanese baseball," also helped support the game by sponsoring a tour which invited American major league players to Japan to play against Japanese college all-stars. The American players consisted of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Fox, and numerous other American stars. Not surprisingly, the Americans won all seventeen games they played. Shoriki, amazed by the interest of Japanese fans, established Japan's first professional team, the Great Tokyo baseball club in December, 1934.
By 1936, six other teams had followed the Yomiuri Giants, and the country's first professional league, the Japan Pro-Baseball league (JPBL) was formed. As baseball in Japan was becoming more organized and popular, war broke out, causing interest to wane because of more important matters. Eventually games were suspended completely because all men were enlisted in the military. According to MCB, the stadiums became ammo dumps or were torn down for land to grow barley.
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 (p48). In 1950, the rebuilding of teams was supported by large corporations. The JPBL also split into the present two leagues, the central and Pacific, which have six teams each, playing for a spot in the Japan World Series.
By 1955, the professional game was really growing with the help of television. The Tokyo Giants became the most popular team with nine consecutive Japan championships from 1965-1973. The Giant's Sadahara Oh had 868 home runs in a twenty-two year career (1958-1980), exceeding both Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron in the U.S. According to Whiting, pro baseball's postwar growth in Japan parallels that of their skyrocketing GNP and by the late 1980's it was extremely profitable, drawing nearly twenty million fans a year (p.48).
Today, baseball in Japan is one of the most heavily attended sporting events in the country. According to MCB, where America has one weekly sports paper, Japan has seven dedicated solely to sports, which concentrate mostly on baseball. This shows that the popularity of Japanese baseball has grown and continues to grow tremendously. According to Whiting, a Japanese writer summed up his country's love for the game by saying, "Baseball is perfect for us, if the Americans hadn't invented it, we would have (p.51).
