What baseball star Shohei Ohtani's success says about Japan

As Japan prepared to face the United States in the final of the World Baseball Classic last year, Shohei Ohtani warned his teammates to stop idolizing their American counterparts. “If we idolize them, we cannot surpass them,” he said. The advice worked and Japan went on to win with Ohtani ending the game in the ninth inning.

Now the tide has turned and the baseball world idolizes Ohtani. Win or lose with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs, Ohtani has already achieved not only what many consider to be the best single game in Major League Baseball history, but also the best season. In sports journalism, he lacks superlatives: his dominance is such that he has been called “the most talented player to ever step on a baseball field” and a “lion playing with cubs.”

Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. He did it all using only half of his talent. Ohtani initially made a name for himself as an “ambidextrous” two-way star who could throw as well as he hit, but stayed away from the mound this season after undergoing elbow surgery. However, that hasn't stopped him from making an economic impact approaching ¥117 billion ($783 million) this season alone, according to Kansai University professor emeritus Katsuhiro Miyamoto. .