Let a Japanese submarine surface under a North Korean ship and sink it. The two countries may have gone to war.
But in this case, American and Japanese officials can turn to a familiar diplomatic tool: baseball. To commemorate the victims, they hold a youth baseball game every year, alternately in Shikoku and Hawaii.
Baseball has a long and rich history in Japan-US diplomacy. In 1970s, American educator horace wilson and railway engineer Hiroshi Hiraoka introduced this sport to the Japanese people and it flourished. Over time, the sport has become more unified, bringing together people from two countries with different histories and cultures.
Friendly travel first began in the early 20th century, when Japanese and American college baseball teams competed with each other. The professional team quickly followed up. World War II interrupted cultural exchanges, and baseball has been a healing mechanism since the end of the war, helping two geopolitical enemies form loyal allies.
As a Fulbright scholar in Japan, I studied the role of baseball in Japan-US diplomatic relations. I identified six key moments. In this unique history,
Baobao is very popular in 1934. Although the battle was overcast, Babe Ruth and his American teammates started their trip to Japan with the 18 match.
Shooting 13 home run, waving American and Japanese flags, playing clown with children and even wearing kimono, this baby won the hearts of the Japanese people.
Today, the statue of Ruth stands in Sendai Zoo. It was in this sacred place that the great American baseball player made his first home run in Japan.
Today, a statue of Babe Ruth stands in Sendai Zoo. When the team returned to the United States, Connie Mack, the owner and manager of the Philadelphia track and field team, announced that the two countries would never go to war.
"There is a strong anti-American sentiment throughout Japan," Mike told reporters. "Then Babe Ruth hit a home run, and all the bad feelings and underground war emotions disappeared!
Unfortunately, seven years after Ruth's visit, Mike will be proved wrong.
1949, four years after the end of World War II, the US military is still occupying Japan. General douglas macarthur, the supreme commander of the Allied Forces, was accused of supervising the post-war occupation and reconstruction. Because food shortage and homelessness are recurring problems, as well as complaints about some culturally insensitive troops, he began to worry about anti-American sentiment and municipal rebellion.
MacArthur, a baseball student at West Point Military Academy, understands the importance of this sport to the cultures of the two countries. To ease the tension, he summoned former Major League Baseball star lefty Audoul, who is the head coach of the San Francisco SEALs. The Japanese are already familiar with Odu: he played the tour at 193 1, persuaded Ruth to go to Japan at 1934, and helped to establish the Japanese professional league at 1936.
The Seals will become the first American baseball team to play in Japan after the Russ Tour. Their 10 tour attracted 500,000 fans, among which 14 and 1000 war orphans participated in a game against the US Army All-Star Team. Emperor Hirohito even met with Odu and thanked him and the SEALs.
MacArthur later said that Odu's trip was the greatest diplomatic example he had ever seen. Today, Audoul is one of only three Americans in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
Wally Younamin "Integrating Japanese Baseball" ea, S,
Some of the more famous players joined the MLB club through the transfer system, including Ichiro Suzuki, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Youdavish, Tanaka Masahiko and Ken Maeda II. Recently, I went to Xiaohai Dagu. In the last offseason, los angeles angels paid Otani's former owner, Japanese Ham Fighter, a transfer fee of 20 million US dollars and gave Otani a signing bonus of 2.3 million US dollars.
Ironically, like Babe Ruth, Otani is a talented pitcher and batter. Together with the Angels, he plans to have both-which coincides with the legacy of the superstar who became one of the major diplomats in baseball.
The fans begged for the autograph of Zongping Otani, the newest Japanese player in Major League Baseball. (Photo by Chris Carlson, Associated Press) This article was first published in Dialogue magazine. "Professor of public policy at the University of Connecticut.