I dont know, since one will find similarity in "mindset"
taught in Madrssa. To say that MLB is becoming popular because of J-players in MLB is not the only factor..there are plenty of reasons but i would refrain from going into details.

 

Nice of you to throw a Japanese word in, and all that. Should have said American baseball is at an all-time genki, and all that, in Japan.

Maybe it has somthing to do with the fact that many consider their national sport sumo to be boring, particularly as their own aren't even the best at it anymore, and they need something else. Anything else.

 

Otherwise the Japanese would not have adopted the game as much as they have. The half silly, half scary, both masochistic and childish at the same time stuff that goes on most school yakyuu clubs notwithstanding, baseball is perhaps the best example of a sport that was transplanted from its home and took root in a foreign country. Think NAmerica and soccer, for eg, to see what happens when a sport isn't considered "ours".

 

I'm sure the wholesale adoption of all things Western in the Meiji period had something to do with it as well.

 

Baseball as played in most parts of the world and "American" baseball are different?

 

and trying to further his own interests and can't be expected to say anything less. But maybe he should have re-phrased it to something more like Let's play happy baseball fight on.

 

Don't know much about baseball, but you gotta to love that 'gaman' team spirit!

 

Someone not Japanese has made a very accurate quote about the spirit and mindset of Japanese. Way to go sir!

 

waht about roogby?

 

Japanese people are not very good at sport, I think. They don't have the individual drive, they are too concerned with fitting in rather than pushing for individual glory, which makes mediocre teams.

 

world, much like cricket, rugby, football...

ummmm Japanese not very good at sport....I beg to differ...it depends on what sport. I do believe though that Japanese play better at non-team sports since it is usually an individual that stands out and exceeds (probably the same for any country) .

 

"baseball is perhaps the best example of a sport that was transplanted from its home and took root in a foreign country."

What are you on about, dude? Are you SERIOUS? Yeah, soccer is not huge at all in NAmerica like it is in DOZENS of other countries (and can you name even 10 countries where baseball is pretty much the main sport? I can think of about 7 or so... and that was stretching it), and while it seems to have lost some of it's rapid growth in Japan (thanks to the 'blue samurai' sucking so badly, and heroes like Ichiro and Godzilla making it so big), it's still clearly got the most world appeal in terms of a sport.

American baseball is at an all-time high here in Japan because there is an all-time high number of Japanese players in the big leagues. Hell, there isn't even 20 minutes of daily news dedicated to Ichiro any more... it has to be split up into 10 minutes for Ichiro, 5 for Godzilla, and 5 for Matsuzaka, depending on which part of the country you're in (between the latter two, that is... Ichiro always gets top billing). No one say the cursed name of... ummm... what was his name, anyway... the guy who got sent back to Japan from the 'big leagues' and back to Nippon Ham... damn... Shijo? Shinjo? No worry if you forget.

Anyway, I'm not denying at all the Japanese are great at it -- they are -- but much of the motivation comes from the reports, posters, adds, billboards, etc. depicting Japanese nationals who have succeeded in the MLB overseas; and why not? it has become a dream that is tangible, and now they work hard as hell for it. I guarantee you ask junior highschool kids across the nation what they want to be and the top answer for boys will be 'MLB player'. Not a bad thing at all, but don't get disillusioned as to why. If Beckham were Japanese they would try like hell at soccer, too.

 

Japan is the world champions in baseball. The final team standing was not USA, Cuba, Korea, Dominican Republic but Japan. Ofcource Japan is a great baseball country.

The rise in popularity of MLB is due to the Japanese invasion. I did not start to get an interest in MLB before the Japanese players started going there. Though I prefer watching Japanese baseball becaue I am more familiar with the teams and players I do like the style of baseball in MLB and that the stadiums there are played on natural turf and not astro turf like in Japan.

 

That's why it's played in S. America. Same culture as Japan.