Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — They say bad news carries fast, but for the people of Japan who follow the movements of Shohei Ohtani more closely than they do those of the Emperor, good news travels fast, too. Within minutes of Shohei reaching the 50/50 plateau, newspaper vendors from Tokyo to Sapporo were out on the streets, hawking special editions featuring the accomplishment.
And, as you might guess, the Japanese were pretty darn pleased with the whole thing. According to an AP report, the Ohtani news topped morning headlines, and “Ohtani-san” was the No. 1 trending topic of social media platform X.
“We would like to express our heartfelt congratulations on his achievement of this giant record,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said as he responded to the first question at his regular news conference Friday. “We look forward to seeing more successes from Ohtani, who has already achieve numerous feats and pioneered new grounds.”
“Japan’s record-making machine has done it again,” U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in his message on X. “Congratulations to Shohei Ohtani on an incredible baseball achievement. A true global ambassador of the game.”
Yu Tachibana, a 44-year-old office worker, was a lucky one to get a copy of the special newspaper edition for her 18-year-old son who plays baseball. She says nobody had thought a Japanese player would so well a decade ago. “It is very encouraging,” she said, as she noted a saying where there is a will, there is a way.
Another fan, Atsushi Miyamoto, expressed the widely shared opinion that Ohtani is “one of a kind.” Then, he opined on what he thought mattered most to Shohei. “I believe what he wants is to become the world champion. I hope he achieves his dream, and he becomes the World Series MVP as well.”
That sounds pretty good to us here in Los Angeles, too. Yoku Dekimashita!
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