Book Review: Lost Japan

An excellent and significant companion to “You Gotta Have Wa”, Robert Whiting takes us through the Japan-American-bushido-verses-baseball-death-struggle to the next level. As an author who has written himself into a very strong niche as THE authority on the expatriate experiences of professional American baseball players in Japan, he has done a very nifty switch-hitting act here and brings us this new book on how Japanese players fare in America.

“The Meaning of Ichiro” is a book that is primarily about a young phenomenal baseball player from Japan who is a house-hold name all over America. This book details the life and rise to fame and power in professional baseball, describes the scorching personal training regimen that the man has gone through, and captures Ichiro in a meaningful and empathetic manner. Some of the historical background of Japanese baseball is repeated here from “You Gotta Have Wa” but such things are expected, particularly when we can see how this latest book may eclipse the successes of earlier publications.

For so many years, Japanese baseball was assumed to be the “ugly little sister” of “real” professional baseball in America. For many years, this may very well have been true. Japanese players were smaller than American players. Japanese players were more heavily controlled by managers. Japanese players have long been demanded to sacrifice life and limb for the glory of the team, and the managers despite amputating their careers in horrifying ways. But things are different now. Japanese men are bigger now. Japanese ball players are starting to say “No” to their managers and teams. Japanese players are taking a more active role in determining their futures.

We are seeing the first generation of adults in Japan who are raised with real dairy products. How is that for an endorsement for Western living?

Although the “rising sun” may seemingly set on Ichiro, there have been other Japanese baseball players who have broken free of tyrannical Japanese team management and escaped to America. Whiting wisely takes several chapters of this book to examine their contributions too.

One of the best qualities of this book is that is also takes some time to carefully examine the media treatment of these men by both the American and Japanese press. The media in Japan are absolutely insane in comparison to Western reporting (if you can believe that!) and their intrusion on the lives of these young guys is simply astonishing. That in itself would make a fascinating read.

Although this book is not necessarily very interesting for people who know nothing about Japan, it is still highly accessible to many of us who have passing knowledge of the game, its players, and the intricacies of baseball statistics and strategy. This author enjoys watching sports quite a bit, but I am sad to say, not a huge baseball fan. This book makes me want to watch more of the game than ever before.

A marvelous read, deeply researched and smart, it stands as a strong recommendation to anyone reading this page. Robert Whiting is one of my favorite writers on all things Japanese.

Mark Groenewold
Kanazawa, Japan
May, 2005

Book Review: The Meaning of Ichiro

Author: Robert Whiting

Reviewer: Mark Groenewold

Date: May, 2005