Tokyo Dome during the 2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series
Country
Japan
Governing body
BFJ
National team(s)
Japan
First played
1872
National competitions
Japan Series
Club competitions
Nippon Professional Baseball Central League Pacific League Eastern League Western League Miyazaki Phoenix League Shikoku Island League Plus Baseball Challenge League
International competitions
WBSC Premier12 World Baseball Classic Summer Olympics (1992–2008, 2020) Asian Championship Asian Games
Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1872 and is Japan's most popular participatory and spectator sport.[1][2] The first professional competitions emerged in the 1920s. The highest level of baseball in Japan is Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), which consists of two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League, with six teams in each league.[3] High school baseball enjoys a particularly strong public profile and fan base, much like college football and college basketball in the United States; the Japanese High School Baseball Championship ("Summer Kōshien"), which takes place each August, is nationally televised and includes regional champions from each of Japan's 47 prefectures.
In Japanese, baseball is commonly called yakyū (野球), combining the characters for field and ball. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the atmosphere of Japanese baseball games is less relaxed than in the United States, with fans regularly singing and dancing to team songs.[4] In addition, as American writer Robert Whiting wrote in his 1977 book The Chrysanthemum and the Bat, "the Japanese view of life, stressing group identity, cooperation, hard work, respect for age, seniority and 'face' has permeated almost every aspect of the sport. Americans who come to play in Japan quickly realize that Baseball Samurai Style is different."[5]
Game night at Yokohama Stadium, 2023
In Japan, Nippon Professional Baseball players such as Shohei Ohtani, Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, Shigeo Nagashima and Sadaharu Oh are regarded as national stars, and their exceptional performances have boosted baseball's popularity in Japan. All of them received or were approached for the People's Honour Award (国民栄誉賞, Kokumin Eiyoshō) for their achievements and popularity.[6][7]
^"The 8 Most Popular Sports in Japan | All About Japan". 28 December 2016.
^Gillette, Gary; Palmer, Pete, eds. (2006). "Baseball in Japan". The 2006 ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. New York: Sterling Publishing Company. pp. 1733–1734. ISBN 978-1-4027-3625-4.
^"Teams Nippon Professional Baseball". Archived from the original on 2016-01-10.
^"Japanese Sports". Archived from the original on 2020-08-13.
^Whiting, Robert (1977). Chrysanthemum and the Bat: Baseball Samurai Style. Dodd, Mead.
^Robert Whiting (23 October 2018). "Koshien Players as 'Japanese Gods': Why We're Crazy About High School Baseball". Japan Forward. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
^"'Too early': Ohtani turned down Japan national honor after MVP season". Japan Times. 22 November 2021. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
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