Ditching Ohtani for Ronaldo? Baseball’s striking out in Japan
Once the national pastime, the sport is down to its last out as youth reject its need for strict uniformity and regimented hairstyles, turning instead to soccer to express their athleticism and individuality
Jun Shigeno hung up his baseball glove because he was tired of having to shave his hair almost to the scalp just to fit in with the rest of the players on the team. Similarly, Kazuma Suzuki stopped playing because of the demands for uniformity and the criticism that would be heaped upon any member of the team who showed the slightest hint of individuality.
Once virtually the only sport accessible to most Japanese, baseball is now in a gradual but seemingly inexorable decline, with the Japan High School Baseball Federation announcing on June 29 that just 153,184 children were members of school clubs, a record fall of 8,389 from the previous year and the fourth consecutive year that numbers had contracted.
In addition, 428 schools are now affiliates of the federation, down eight from last year, while 8,755 adults are registered as helping with school teams, a fall of 548.
In a separate nationwide survey by the federation and the Asahi newspaper, more than 70 per cent of high school baseball coaches and club supervisors said the game was no longer Japan’s national pastime. A majority said baseball had either been surpassed by football or would be soon.
Given Japan’s solid showing at this year’s World Cup Finals in Russia, and the arrival of a number of high-profile players at Japanese clubs this summer, baseball may struggle to regain its former glory.