Cultural differences MLB - NPB, 1

Q:  Why doesn't Ichiro lead more?

A:  No American MLB player would ever be looked to as team captain for an NPB team.

He would be too "different" in the negative Japanese sense, different in the sense of doing things incorrectly, or at least in ways that are seen as unproven and unreliable.  In fact, as I understand it, an American star playing in Japan would serve himself best by saying relatively little, by working much harder than he does in the majors, and by "knowing his place."

And for similar reasons, Ichiro simply isn't accepted as a leader by American ballplayers.

Unfortunately, the general reaction to Ichiro (especially with Hargrove as manager) has evidently been resentment. 

Wakamatsu has reportedly, by dint of outstanding leadership,  re-directed this sentiment into "polite tolerance."

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Any baseball team, such as Team Japan WBC, would do well to appoint Ichiro captain, to imitate him and to learn from him.  But we're probably at least 20 years away from that even being a possibility in America.

I doubt that it will occur any sooner in Japan, appointing a foreigner as team leader :- )

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Q.  Is the Japanese way of playing baseball superior, inferior, or sideways-different?

A.  I personally believe that the Japanese way is significantly better in the overall picture.  There are a few areas in which I think their philosophy holds them back, but many more areas in which it moves them forward.

It's ironic, BTW, that political correctness ostensibly focuses on "celebrating our differences" and "tolerating different ways" -- yet any discovery of ways in which cultures are truly different are met with a fair amount of panic.  :- )

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In my opinion, the American way of playing sports is "showy":  it focuses on power, on macho, on posing for posters, on mano-a-mano gladiatorial battles for glory and ego.  Americans themselves typically don't recognize this, but it is obvious to non-Americans.

Japanese baseball focuses on mistake avoidance, on precision, on reliability as opposed to power. 

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Q:  Examples?

A:  When is the last time you ever saw Ichiro airmail a throw over third base?   In ten full years, I don't believe he has ever had a throw go into the stands on a bounce.

Yet you will see American major leaguers do this -- routinely.   It is okay to lose here, and it is okay for the runner to score.  But don't look like a weenie in the process :- )

American fans are frustrated constantly by Ichiro's refusal to attempt a steal when he thinks the odds are against him. 

For a long time they resented the fact that he never dives for batted balls. 

Ichiro's tendency to successfully bunt for a hit, with a runner on second base, drives ML players batty... "He's the star.  His job is to get the RBI."  You know, and I know, and Sadaharu Oh knows, that Ichiro's job is to increase the run expectancy in the inning.  But there is a mano-a-mano subtext out there in America...

In all these things you can see major, not minor, cultural differences.

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Part 2

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