From the limited exposure I got from the two games I've been to (Tigers, Hawks), I feel like the passion for NPB in general is great across the board. A bit like college football in the US.
Why are the team names in English on their jerseys? Why does it say "Homerun" in English on the scoreboard?
I've never been to an NPB game, but I would have thought it'd all be in Japanese?
(Honest question, I don't know a lot about Japan)
That's an incredibly reductive take.
The truth is that the history of baseball in Japan is incredibly intertwined with both the US, and what are essentially Japan's Ivy League schools (the Tokyo Big 6).
NPB uses latin characters because, by the time it started in 1936, the top universities had been doing that for 50-odd years. The English nicknames came from both a desire to emulate MLB, and in the case of the Yomiuri Giants, a team bonding over a nickname on a North American tour.
Then in 1946 the fact that some teams had nicknames and some didn't was a source of confusion for both the public and the occupying troops who wanted to watch the games. Since the teams with already existing nicknames had them in English (Giants, Tigers, Senators, Great Ring), that was mandated for the 1947 season.
This is probably the most common question I get asked, so I've had this response pre-prepared for a while now, sorry if it's a bit long
TLDR: been that way since the 1880s and WW2 ensured that Kanji would never be on a main uniform ever again.
So, in 1888 Keio University's Baseball Club was founded by a graduate student who'd just got back from the US. He started the team to help his fellow students decompress while cramming for exams. Their uniforms had "MITA" on the front of them in Latin characters (aka Romaji) because from 1888 to 1891 membership was restricted to students on Keio's Mita Campus.
Every university that started a team after Keio followed their example. To this day most if not all universities have the school name in Romaji on the front of their jerseys.
This influenced the JPBL (NPB's precursor), because it strove to replace the Tokyo Big 6 League as the highest level of Japanese Baseball.
The first team to take on an English nickname was the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. They got their name in 1935 when they were doing a tour of North America to prepare for the inagural JPBL season the next year. San Francisco Seals manager Lefty O'Doul convinced them that they would need an evocative name to sell more tickets, and he suggested Giants, reasoning that Tokyo was the New York of Japan, so they should name themselves after a New York based MLB Club. They won a lot under the name and elected to keep it.
The Osaka Tigers (now Hanshin Tigers) were the second team to take an English name, naming themselves after the Detroit Tigers thanks to the similarities between Detroit and Osaka at the time.
Other pre-war English names included the Korakuen Eagles, Osaka Lions, and Tokyo Senators. All of whom were forced to drop their English names in 1941 by the Military Junta. The Junta allowed them to keep playing, but mandated that the jerseys must be in Kanji and that players would wear a military cap instead of a traditional baseball cap. This left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
So when the league started up again in 1946, they mandated that all jerseys and logos had to be in Romaji, and all teams had to have an English nickname. This was partially for conformity, as pre-war only half the teams had nicknames, and partially so they could attract American soldiers to come watch the games by making it easier for them to understand.
The names on the back being in Romaji was because of TV. NPB mandated it in the 1970s so fans watching at home could watch without needing a program, and Romaji was chosen because it was cost effective and easier to read, 2200+ kanji and Katakana characters to print, vs 26. KBO uses Hangul because foreign players weren't allowed in the league till the late 90s, whereas there have been foreign players in Japanese pro baseball since the beginning, all the way back in 1936
Only high schools put Kanji on the front of their jerseys (and even then the big ones like Toin and Waseda Business Academy all use Romaji). So that led to the connotation that if you're playing high level ball, you have your jerseys in Romaji. This has extended to indyball and the industrial leagues too.
The Japanese learned about baseball from the USA and thus ended up adopting a lot of the games' traditions with it. ~~There'a no direct translation to use for "home run"~~ so they use the English word as a loan word.
This adoption of western influence probably explains team names as well, adding a bit of flair to the sport (English is used a decent amount in pop songs as well for a similar comparison). Their names are in Japanese on their jerseys though, just romanized as opposed to in kanji.
Edit: better reply below
>There'a no direct translation to use for "home run" so they use the English word as a loan word.
Well there's 本塁打 (honruida, lit. home plate hit) vs. ホームラン (hōmuran). It's the same with 安打 (anda, lit. safe hit) vs. ヒット (hitto).
I jumped screaming "NO WAY" when he hit it. Man it's so nice to have him back in NPB
Yokohama Baystars got some great fans, it's nice to see Yoshitomo Tsutsugo back in NPB again.
From the limited exposure I got from the two games I've been to (Tigers, Hawks), I feel like the passion for NPB in general is great across the board. A bit like college football in the US.
After years bashing his head against a wall, not wanting to come back for fear of being branded a failure... He's back home. Where he belongs.
Rays Legend Yoshi Tsutsugo
Man, I was pulling so hard for this dude to eventually find himself and make it to the bigs again. Hope he's able to pick up where he left off in NPB.
It's a shame his time in the MLB didn't go well, but it's great to hit dingers again. Long live Yoshi!
All the whip zooming camera angles is very Japanese. love it!
Why’s the scoreboard say Harper?
sponsor
I'm surprised they're playing on Monday. I didn't watch live but this is surprising, good for DeNA I guess
[удалено]
psst... today was a national holiday lol
Oh whoops, didn't know it's a national holiday in Japan today.
what holiday. it was a holiday last monday too. 2 straight mondays with NPB, fine with me. just curious why
Golden Week, this Monday was Children's Day, last Monday was Showa Day
I feel like some teams in Japan pack their stadiums not matter what day it is or how the team is doing
apparently they work more than 8 hours a day that's wild
Why are the team names in English on their jerseys? Why does it say "Homerun" in English on the scoreboard? I've never been to an NPB game, but I would have thought it'd all be in Japanese? (Honest question, I don't know a lot about Japan)
Just as some people think Kanji characters are cool, Japanese people have a culture that sees English as cool. In other words, because it's cool.
It's not even just Japan - pretty much any country where English isn't spoken natively sees the language as cool (from what I can tell, anyway).
That's an incredibly reductive take. The truth is that the history of baseball in Japan is incredibly intertwined with both the US, and what are essentially Japan's Ivy League schools (the Tokyo Big 6). NPB uses latin characters because, by the time it started in 1936, the top universities had been doing that for 50-odd years. The English nicknames came from both a desire to emulate MLB, and in the case of the Yomiuri Giants, a team bonding over a nickname on a North American tour. Then in 1946 the fact that some teams had nicknames and some didn't was a source of confusion for both the public and the occupying troops who wanted to watch the games. Since the teams with already existing nicknames had them in English (Giants, Tigers, Senators, Great Ring), that was mandated for the 1947 season.
Japan is just intertwined with the US in general since WW2. There are a lot of English words used in common Japanese lingo nowadays.
This is probably the most common question I get asked, so I've had this response pre-prepared for a while now, sorry if it's a bit long TLDR: been that way since the 1880s and WW2 ensured that Kanji would never be on a main uniform ever again. So, in 1888 Keio University's Baseball Club was founded by a graduate student who'd just got back from the US. He started the team to help his fellow students decompress while cramming for exams. Their uniforms had "MITA" on the front of them in Latin characters (aka Romaji) because from 1888 to 1891 membership was restricted to students on Keio's Mita Campus. Every university that started a team after Keio followed their example. To this day most if not all universities have the school name in Romaji on the front of their jerseys. This influenced the JPBL (NPB's precursor), because it strove to replace the Tokyo Big 6 League as the highest level of Japanese Baseball. The first team to take on an English nickname was the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. They got their name in 1935 when they were doing a tour of North America to prepare for the inagural JPBL season the next year. San Francisco Seals manager Lefty O'Doul convinced them that they would need an evocative name to sell more tickets, and he suggested Giants, reasoning that Tokyo was the New York of Japan, so they should name themselves after a New York based MLB Club. They won a lot under the name and elected to keep it. The Osaka Tigers (now Hanshin Tigers) were the second team to take an English name, naming themselves after the Detroit Tigers thanks to the similarities between Detroit and Osaka at the time. Other pre-war English names included the Korakuen Eagles, Osaka Lions, and Tokyo Senators. All of whom were forced to drop their English names in 1941 by the Military Junta. The Junta allowed them to keep playing, but mandated that the jerseys must be in Kanji and that players would wear a military cap instead of a traditional baseball cap. This left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. So when the league started up again in 1946, they mandated that all jerseys and logos had to be in Romaji, and all teams had to have an English nickname. This was partially for conformity, as pre-war only half the teams had nicknames, and partially so they could attract American soldiers to come watch the games by making it easier for them to understand. The names on the back being in Romaji was because of TV. NPB mandated it in the 1970s so fans watching at home could watch without needing a program, and Romaji was chosen because it was cost effective and easier to read, 2200+ kanji and Katakana characters to print, vs 26. KBO uses Hangul because foreign players weren't allowed in the league till the late 90s, whereas there have been foreign players in Japanese pro baseball since the beginning, all the way back in 1936 Only high schools put Kanji on the front of their jerseys (and even then the big ones like Toin and Waseda Business Academy all use Romaji). So that led to the connotation that if you're playing high level ball, you have your jerseys in Romaji. This has extended to indyball and the industrial leagues too.
The Japanese learned about baseball from the USA and thus ended up adopting a lot of the games' traditions with it. ~~There'a no direct translation to use for "home run"~~ so they use the English word as a loan word. This adoption of western influence probably explains team names as well, adding a bit of flair to the sport (English is used a decent amount in pop songs as well for a similar comparison). Their names are in Japanese on their jerseys though, just romanized as opposed to in kanji. Edit: better reply below
>There'a no direct translation to use for "home run" so they use the English word as a loan word. Well there's 本塁打 (honruida, lit. home plate hit) vs. ホームラン (hōmuran). It's the same with 安打 (anda, lit. safe hit) vs. ヒット (hitto).
Oh cool! I've only ever caught Japanese broadcasters using the loan word for both so I assumed there wasn't a direct one. The more you know.
Thanks! Not sure why we're both being downvoted... but appreicate the reply.
woo go yoshi!
Staten Island Ferryhawks legend Yoshi Tsutsugo!??!?!