# Why did baseball become so popular in Japan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-baseball-become-so-popular-in-japan/267961 "2004-10-07T02:05:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![habs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@habs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/habs)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-baseball-become-so-popular-in-japan/267961/1 "2004-10-07T02:05:42Z")
Why did baseball become so popular in Japan? Why would the bitter enemies of the USA be so eager to pick up our sport? At first, I thought maybe the popularity of baseball in Japan was just because of the presence of US soldiers based there. But there are/were also significant numbers of soldiers in South Korea and the Phillipines, and baseball never really caught on those countries, so the presence of US troops does not seem to be a major factor in the spread of baseball’s popularity. After all, if this was the case, baseball would’ve caught on in Europe. Ironically, baseball is very popular in the Caribbean, yet other than at Gitmo, there aren’t many US soldiers based there! So, why did the Japanese pick up baseball so quickly and fervently? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-baseball-become-so-popular-in-japan/267961/2 "2004-10-07T02:16:19Z")
[Brief History of Japanese Baseball](http://www2.gol.com/users/jallen/jimball.html#History) ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-baseball-become-so-popular-in-japan/267961/3 "2004-10-07T02:19:50Z")
I’m not sure the premise of your question is quite correct. This [page](http://www.japan-zone.com/omnibus/baseball.shtml) says > [@](#): > > Baseball was first introduced to Japan in 1873 at Kaisei Gakko, now Tokyo University. The sport quickly spread among universities and middle schools and became the country’s biggest school sport…The first professional team was established in 1934 and there were six more teams by the time the first league was set up in 1936. It looks to me like baseball in Japan had a following well before the “presence of US soldiers based there”. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-baseball-become-so-popular-in-japan/267961/4 "2004-10-07T11:07:42Z")
Baseball in Japan took on its own flavor, less rowdy and more spiritual than in America. In the 1960s and 70s, the great Sadaharu Oh ruled Japanese baseball. His philosophy of sport: > [@](#): > > _by Sadaharu Oh_ > > **In combat, I learned to give up combat. An opponent was someone whose strength joined to yours created a certain result. Let someone call you enemy and attack you, and in that moment they lost the contest.** Oh’s autobiography is titled _A Zen Way of Baseball_. The manager of Oh’s team, the Tokyo Giants, prepared for the season by purifying himself at a Buddhist retreat, and after losing several games, he delivered public apologies to the fans. The craftsman who made Oh’s bat wandered through a forest in search of a tree whose soul would match Oh’s soul. Oh’s _sensei_ was Hiroshi Arakawa, who was not only a batting coach but also trained him in aikido, Zen, kabuki, and kendo: teaching how to hit by showing how to wait. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-baseball-become-so-popular-in-japan/267961/5 "2004-10-07T15:04:27Z")
In other words, baseball has been popular in Japan nearly as long as it has been popular in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![jimdigritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@jimdigritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimdigritz)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-baseball-become-so-popular-in-japan/267961/6 "2004-10-07T15:09:21Z")
It is also because Japanese companies (in Japan) have a very strong team ethos. Almost all have baseball, softball and rugby teams in proper leagues. They take it very very seriously. This is how Japan was able to field a relatively competant Rugby Union team in the last World Cup. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-baseball-become-so-popular-in-japan/267961/7 "2004-10-07T16:05:08Z")
> [@habs](#): > > Why did baseball become so popular in Japan? Why would the bitter enemies of the USA be so eager to pick up our sport? Even if baseball hadn’t become popular until after the war (which others have shown not to be true), your premise would still be flawed. The Japanese are not “the bitter enemies of the USA” anymore, and have not been for nearly six decades.