The Meaning of Ichiro: The New Wave from Japan and the Transformation of Our National Pastime [Hardcover]

Robert Whiting (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004

Matsui... Nomo... Sasaki... Ichiro... the so-called American "National Pastime" has developed a decidedly Japanese flair. Indeed, in this year's All-Star game, two of the starting American League outfielders were from Japan. And for the third straight year, Ichiro - the fleet-footed Seattle Mariner - received more votes for the All-Star game than any other player in the game today. Some 15 years ago, in the bestseller "You Gotta Have Wa," Robert Whiting examined how former American major league ballplayers tried to cope with a different culture while playing pro ball in Japan. Now, Whiting reverses his field and reveals how select Japanese stars have come across the Pacific to play in the big leagues. Not only have they had to deal with the American way of life, but they have individually changed the game in dramatic fashion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Whiting (You Gotta Have It) offers an intriguing glimpse into Japanese culture and the way baseball has shaped society in that country, as players wrestle with their desire to compete against the world's best while honoring the rigid mores of their homeland. The book isn't so much about Seattle Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki as it is about every Japanese player who made the jump to the U.S. before and after him, how they fared and what role they played in America's pastime-like the aloof Kasuhisa Ishii, the flamboyant "spaceman" Tsuyoshi Shinjo and the underachieving Hideki Irabu, famously derided by Yankee owner George Steinbrenner as a "fat, pussy toad." A few have succeeded, some have failed and many still toil in the U.S. Equally intriguing is super-agent Don Nomura, who found the loopholes in the Japanese players' contracts (league rules were translated from American minor league baseball's from the 1930s) that enabled the pioneers to make the break for Major League Baseball. Whiting effectively sprinkles in Japanese words to explain and illustrate principles and customs, and his extensive knowledge of both baseball and culture in that country makes for a compelling read. Details such as Hideki Matsui's taste for adult movies, the real genesis of his Godzilla nickname and Hideo Nomo's demand for large payments for print and TV interviews back in Japan add flavor, and reportage on Kazuo Matsui signing with the Mets this past off-season keeps the book up to the minute.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The author of You Gotta Have Wa (1989), about the nature of Japanese baseball, wraps his occasionally purple prose around first Seattle Mariner star Ichiro Suzuki and then other Japanese players who came to the big leagues in this country. He also examines American players and managers who went to play in Japan, such as Bobby Valentine and Alfonso Soriano. Ichiro (tellingly known by his one name only, like Cher or Bono) led the most Japanese of lives, trained by his father from earliest childhood and then in the Japanese style of baseball drill, which closely resembles boot camp. Ichiro's almost magical style and speed are grounded in that training but were allowed to blossom only when he was free of it. Despite reading a bit repetitiously, this collection of essays delivers considerable insight into the near-opposite American and Japanese approaches to baseball and to the culture of the game. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; First Edition edition (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446531928
• ISBN-13: 978-0446531924
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,577,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars The Japanese effect on Major League Baseball September 6, 2004

By Jack Fitzgerald VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Robert Whiting has written several books about Japanese baseball, including "You Gotta Have Wa" and "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat." His latest effort, "The Meaning of Ichiro..." is a good bookend for the other two, in that here he details Japanese players finding their way to the U.S. Major Leagues. The title is a bit misleading, because the book is not strictly about Ichiro, but also deals with success stories such as Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui, Kazuo Matsui and the challenges to a player like Hideki Irabu.

Whiting includes a lot of interesting history, some of it rehashed from earlier volumes, but necessary here if one is to read this as a stand alone piece. He details the birth of baseball in Japan, how it became Japanized with the intense training, and some early experiences in cross-cultural play with teams from the United States. There is also some philosophy, for it is important to understand the Japanese culture and mindset, as well as the almost martial training that players endure in Japan. All very fascinating stuff.

The bulk of the book focuses on those players since 1995 who have made their way across the Pacific to play for teams in North America. The stories about Ichiro, Nomo and Hideki Matsui are near-mythical, and one has to wonder how much truth was embellished by their families and coaches. But aren't the stories of players of this caliber always near-mythical?

While the prose reads well, and Whiting is very knowledgeable about the Japanese game, I found numerous factual errors. Ichiro was born in 1973, but the book had him entering junior high school in 1975! Now that's precocious. Probably a typo, but in a baseball book, errors with dates and stats are killers. Another error had the Yankees winning the 1995 World Series, when they were ousted in the Division Series by the Seattle Mariners. Yeah, it's nit-picky, but it does make one wonder about the other stats and whether the fact-checkers and editors did their jobs well or not.

The other knock that I have is that Whiting made some references about Seattle that sounded like he has never even been to the city, or that his information is terribly dated. Watch those adjectives. He referred to "rain-soaked Safeco Field" possibly without knowing that it has a retractable roof, and that during the summer, Seattle is one of the drier places to be in the U.S. and way more so than in rainy, muggy Japan. Check out Art Thiel's "Out of Left Field" for the story of baseball in Seattle.

Still, it's a great read and provides many insights in how the Japanese players perceive the North American game. The biggest thing to take away is that players in MLB should bone up on their fundamentals, kind of like the NBA players need to brush up against their international competition. The world is catching up...

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cross-Cultural Study April 13, 2004

By Kit Houseman

Format:Hardcover

Following the out-of-print The Chrysanthemum and the Bat (1977) and You Gotta Have Wa (1990), The Meaning of Ichiro can be looked at as the third in a trilogy of Robert Whiting books on Japanese baseball. (He also did an as told to book with Warren Cromartie). In it, Whiting pursues the next logical step, looking at the impact Japanese players have had on the American game, and how this has changed the relationship between the two countries in terms of society in general as well as in the baseball world. Whiting examines the make-up of various Japanese players and how it affected their success in the American big leagues. Besides Ichiro, he discusses Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Hideki Irabu, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, and Hideki Matsui, among others. He also looks at how foreign managers have fared in Japan, paying particular attention to Bobby Valentine?s tenure as skipper of the Chiba Lotte Marines. Whiting points out that for many years, Americans played in Japan, but no Japanese played in the U.S and he supports a conclusion that the emergence of Japanese stars in the major leagues has been a good thing for the relationship between the two countries. This is good reading for those who are interested in international baseball and how foreign relations are effected outside of strictly diplomatic circles.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A timely sequel to a classic October 11, 2004

By Aaron Ping

Format:Hardcover

In this book, Whiting revisits the experience of Japanese baseball, only this time through the eyes of Japanese players playing in the US. The biographies are well-written and focused as Whiting chooses to elaborate only on the most interesting or most pivotal points of each player's experience. But perhaps most impressive is Whiting's balanced understanding of race, racism, and nationalism on both the Japanese and American sides of the Pacific. Whiting doesn't pull any punches when addressing these issues but then again he doesn't hit harder than is warranted.

I particularly liked this book because it covers the period of time during which I've been a resident of Japan (96 to present). While the earlier title "You Gotta Have Wa" was an excellent read, it felt a bit dated to me as it descibes an earlier period I never experienced firsthand. Japan has changed a bit since the bubble days and in this book Whiting manages to concisely convey many of those changes through several viewpoints. I highly recommend it even if you've already read "Wa."