The Future of Japanese Baseball — Beyond Light and Shadow

Up to here, we have traced the course of Japanese baseball from both sides, light and shadow. The arrival in the Meiji era and the beginning of the fervor, the interruption by war and the revival. And then the Black Mist scandal, the draft and money, the structure of a single dominant power, the realignment of the baseball world in 2004, baseball gambling, the violence that lingered in the world of coaching, talent crossing the sea —.

There were proud moments, and there were also events one would rather look away from. In the final chapter of this series, carrying all of these with us, we consider where Japanese baseball is now trying to head. Neither ending by condemning the past, nor repainting everything beautifully, but as quietly as we can, we wish to take a fresh look at where we stand now.

The Fervor the WBC Brought

In recent years, what has become the international face of Japanese baseball is the World Baseball Classic (WBC). In this tournament, where representatives of nations and regions compete for the title of best in the world, the Japanese team has time and again produced great emotion.

In the first tournament, in 2006, Japan became the inaugural champion. It also won the second tournament that followed, in 2009, achieving back-to-back titles. In that second tournament, television ratings for Japan’s games are said to have recorded high figures, with newspapers issuing extra editions, generating a fervor that drew in society as a whole. And in the 2023 tournament, Japan defeated the United States in the final, winning the title for the first time in three tournaments. A player who excelled in both pitching and batting was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), and that victory was etched into the memories of many people across generations.

Success in international tournaments shows the strength of Japanese baseball to the world and, at the same time, becomes an opportunity to strengthen the ties with overseas fans and players. As baseball spreads across the world, Japan plays a part in carrying it — that flow of internationalization is one of the great themes going forward.

Governance, an Unending Challenge

Alongside the fervor, we must not forget the lessons the shadows we have seen in this series thrust upon us. Match-fixing, gambling, violence — all were problems that called into question the discipline of the organization and the mechanisms to prevent recurrence.

With each of these events, the baseball world conducted investigations, disciplined those involved, and put in place rules and education to prevent recurrence. Efforts to sever ties with gambling and antisocial forces, a shift toward coaching that does not tolerate violence or harassment, education for players and umpires — these steady endeavors have become the foundation for restoring trust and protecting the sport.

That said, with governance — that is, the building of mechanisms to discipline an organization — there is no end where one can say ‘this is now complete.’ Even if a system is put in place, if the awareness of the people who operate it does not keep pace, mistakes can be repeated in altered forms. Many of the shadows we have seen in this series were not the simple story of bad individuals being there and so it happened. They arose, to a large degree, within structures such as conditions, systems, and organizational logic. That is precisely why an attitude of continuing to question the structure itself will be demanded going forward as well.

Development, Locality, and Sustaining Popularity

In thinking about the future, another thing that cannot be left out is the problem of how to support the base of the sport.

As the flow of top-class players crossing the sea takes hold, how to preserve the appeal of the Japanese league itself is the difficult challenge we also saw in the previous chapter. To raise star players, send them off, and yet keep the league from being hollowed out — for that, a mechanism to continually develop young talent and the building of an environment that makes fans want to come to the ballpark are indispensable.

Having gone through the realignment of the baseball world in 2004, each team has built up efforts to put down local roots. To be tied to the city of one’s home ground, and to become a presence that everyone from children to the elderly can cheer for in the course of daily life. From an era that relied on television broadcasts alone, toward a direction that values the experience at the ballpark and the connection with the local community — that progress is also one answer that Japanese baseball has found.

Coaching that does not force unreasonable strain on children’s bodies, a culture that raises people rather than making victory the supreme value, an environment everyone can be involved in with peace of mind. The many shadows we have seen in this series, turned the other way around, teach us what Japanese baseball should value from here on.

Beyond Light and Shadow

A single sport that arrived from across the ocean around the Meiji era became, over more than a hundred years, a culture irreplaceable to the Japanese people. Along that journey, a proud fervor and a shadow one would rather look away from were always side by side.

Baseball was also a mirror that reflected the Japanese society of each era. The shadow of war, the era of high growth and television, the desire surrounding money, the friction between organization and individual, and internationalization. The light and shadow of baseball were also the light and shadow of our own journey.

We cannot assert what the future will be. New challenges will surely keep arising, and there will surely be scenes where the lessons of the past are tested. Even so, we wish to believe that this sport has the strength to keep facing forward, even after looking both light and shadow in the eye. To record mistakes, learn from them, and still keep loving baseball — it is beyond the accumulation of that endeavor, we think, that the future of Japanese baseball lies.

Thank you for reading this series to the very end. We would be glad if this journey, gazing at Japanese baseball from both sides of light and shadow, has become an occasion to feel, even a little, the joys and sorrows that people have piled up on and off the field, and the weight of the history this sport has borne. We wish to keep sending quiet cheers to Japanese baseball, which will walk on from here too while holding all of its light and shadow.

【Japanese Baseball, Light and Shadow: The Untold Side of Pro Baseball — End】