He added: “All the kids want to be like Ohtani ... Ohtani came out of Japan’s regimented baseball system at Hanamaki Higashi High School in largely rural Iwate prefecture in northeastern ...

“With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible ... The mania topped out when Japan won the World Baseball Classic about 20 months ago, defeating the United States.

We meet American Bianca Smith, a former pro baseball coach who now trains children and teens in Hokkaido Prefecture, and Francis Geyrozaga Lapinig, also from the US who works as an autobody ...

When I was a kid, it would basically have been unthinkable that Japan would have more viewers for the World Series than where baseball originated. But I’m not sure we should be so surprised.

What happens to baseball in Japan, to the country's pro league ... where the best players go play in Europe and the kids play at home until they’re good enough to play in Europe,” said ...