The Hachi #10: Long Live the Cup

Horsing around, power puns and merch musings

Mar 08, 2024

We’ve reached the 10th of these — the first zero in Hachi history!

And with that comes another milestone — I’ll be pretty busy over the next couple weeks with family in town, so to make things a little easier I will be answering an unspecified number1 of your questions about Japanese sports!

To submit your question(s), smash this button and I’m pretty sure it will work (and if it doesn’t, just leave your question as a comment!)

FILL THAT MAILBAG!

Now, onto the good stuff!

1. The Cup is dead, long live the Cup

As long as it’s existed, the J.League YBC Levain Cup has punched well above its reputational weight class thanks in large part to the final, which more often than not has been a sold-out spectacle at the National Stadium played in the crisp fall weather that blesses the greater Tokyo area every year.

But the rest of the tournament — the repetitive Wednesday-night group stage games, that weird Playoff Stage they implemented a few years back, the knockout rounds during the September and October international breaks — really that could all get in the bin.

As a result, the decision to revamp the tournament to include all 60 J.League clubs was met with open arms by fans — and that decision definitely paid dividends on Wednesday, with a number of upsets marking the first matchday of the 2024 edition’s opening round.

Of the seven games between J2 and J3 clubs, four were won by J3 sides, including YSCC Yokohama’s 1-0 win over Mito Hollyhock, Giravanz Kitakyushu’s 1-0 extra time triumph over Oita Trinita, FC Ryukyu’s 2-1 triumph over Fujieda MYFC, and Azul Claro Numazu’s 3-2 stunner against Vegalta Sendai, settled four minutes into second-half stoppage time by Takumi Hama.

Of the two all-J2 cards, V-Varen Nagasaki needed a stoppage-time equalizer — and a 118th-minute goal by Matheus Jesus, his second of the night — to take down last year’s J3 champions Ehime FC, while promoted Kagoshima United took out JEF United Chiba 1-0 with a goal from Shota Suzuki.

With “lower-ranked” teams hosting all but one of Wednesday’s games, the winning teams’ fans were present for all four cupsets, improving atmospheres considerably — especially compared to the often-sterile early rounds of the Emperor’s Cup.

The remainder of Round 1 will take place next week, with J1 teams joining the fray from Round 2 on April 17 and 24. Lower-ranked teams will continue to host, meaning we’ll get a chance to see if Urawa Reds can get it done on a cold Wednesday night in Tottori. And really, isn’t that what the Magic of the Cup is all about?

2. Gamba go Dutch

Two-time J.League champions and 2008 AFC Champions League winners Gamba Osaka are well past their 2000s-era glory years, having finished bottom-half of the table in three straight seasons.

With a new football department in place to help reorganize the sporting side of things, the Original 10 club is also looking to follow in the path of some of its peers by inking a strategic partnership with 36-time Eredivisie champions and former kings of Europe Ajax.

The partnership, announced Monday, covers both senior and academy teams, and will give Gamba fresh insight into the European transfer market as well as create opportunities for players, coaches and staff to take part in overseas exchanges.

As J.League Regista chief Gabriele Anello noted, this isn’t Ajax’s first Japanese partnership: The club penned a three-year agreement with Sagan Tosu in early 2018, a little over a year before the Kyushu side’s lavish spending was personified by the arrival of aging Spaniard Fernando Torres.

While most strategic partnerships coming out of the J.League have been with Southeast Asian clubs, the number of deals with European clubs is increasing: Vissel Kobe linked up with England’s Aston Villa in October, while Mito Hollyhock and Hannover inked a youth development agreement last April.

3. Catch and release

As a Nerd Who Likes Sports, I enjoy learning about athletes’ hobbies and second-career passions, whether it’s former NFL punter Chris Kluwe being very into World of Warcraft or MLB legend Ken Griffey Jr. staying busy as a sports photographer.

It’s in that spirit that I applaud Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida’s admission to Sports Hochi that he puts down the glove and picks up the rod during the offseason.

Have you gotten into any hobbies during spring training?
“Bass fishing. Last year I brought my gear but I didn’t have time to fish (because of the World Baseball Classic). I used to fall asleep immediately after practice, so I started as a way to help beat jet lag. It’s hot during the day so I start in the evening when the sun is setting. I don’t want to touch the fish much so I release them pretty quickly (laughs). I’ve caught around 30 cm (11.8 inches).

Given how inscrutable Japanese players in the majors are — Ichiro was once described as “so bland, he’s sensational,” while the name of Shohei Ohtani’s dog Dekopin was the “biggest mystery of the offseason” — this is about as big a bombshell as we’ll get from Japan’s ever-expanding MLB contingent, even if it’s not anywhere at the level of Mike Tyson’s pigeon-breeding.

Incidentally, this NPB player guide aficionado did a statistical deep dive into what Japanese players named as their hobbies between 1989 and 2003 — “listening to music” led the pack with 751 out of 1862 players, while sports other than baseball (344), golf (311), and automotive-related (242) rounded out the top four.

4. Why the long face?

As Shohei Ohtani trained with his Dodgers teammates for the first time in late February, another Otani-san was making his own debut on the racetrack.

The 35-month-old colt placed fifth in the third race at Nakayama Racecourse on Feb. 24, but he was first in the hearts of many after the announcer’s repeated calls of “Otani-san,” evoking the many MLB play-by-play calls that have shouting Ohtani’s name in recent seasons.

The Daily Shincho did some research on whether or not it’s okay to name a horse similar to a celebrity, with an unnamed reporter telling the tabloid:

“They’re very likely trying to capitalize on Ohtani’s popularity, but owners don’t profit from selling more betting slips.
…
“You can’t give horses names that violate public order, or name them after an individual or product. But compared to the past, the approval process seems to have become more permissive.”

An official from the Japan Association for International Racing and Stud Book, which governs horse registrations in the country, also responded to Shincho, saying:

"I’m sure a lot of people will be reminded of Shohei Ohtani, but … there are a lot of Ohtanis in Japan, and because this horse’s name doesn’t refer to a specific individual it was approved.”

With all that squared away, Otani-san faces a long road — well, track — if he hopes to ever come close to matching his sire, none other than 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify.

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5. Wat’s running out of power

The B2 League’s Aomori Wat’s2 announced on Saturday that the team is in danger of folding before the end of this season following the bankruptcy of its primary shareholder ANEW Holdings.

The business incubator, which became Wat’s parent company Aomori Sports Creation’s primary shareholder last summer, began bankruptcy proceedings in a Tokyo court on Feb. 22 and informed ASC one week later.

Failure to bring the club’s finances back into balance — including raising ¥50 million in order to resolve ¥38 million in debt and get the team through the rest of the season, as well as establishing a new financing plan ahead of next season — could cost the Wat’s their B2 license, while accepting an emergency loan from the league could result in a five-point penalty and risk the team’s spot in the season-ending B2 Playoffs.

“We’re trying to be as clear as possible today in explaining where we’re at now in terms of the worst-case scenario, and we want to overcome this situation,” ASC chairman Yuji Fujinaga said at a March 2 press conference. “We hope lots of people will cooperate by coming to the arena, buying lots of merchandise and even donating.”

A collapse would see Aomori Prefecture lose its first professional sports franchise; the Wat’s were founded in 2012, seven years before Vanraure Hachinohe joined the J.League.

“Aomori Prefecture needs the Wat’s;” ASC president Noriyuki Kitaya said. “The team continues to give dreams to many people (in Aomori) and I want it to keep doing so.”

On Thursday, the club launched a bank account to accept donations from the public that will help keep the top, cheerleading, and academy teams operational as it searches for a new primary owner.

6. Dome fight night confirmed

Speaking of Tyson, boxing is indeed returning to Tokyo Dome for the first time since Iron Mike’s historic upset by Buster Douglas, with Naoya “The Monster” Inoue set to defend his undisputed super-bantamweight crown against Luis Nery.

"My motivation is really high," Inoue told a press conference. "I'll need to roll my sleeves up to face a strong boxer, and get myself into the best shape of my career. It'll be a heated fight."

Undercards will include WBO bantamweight champion Jason Moloney fighting Yoshiki Takei, WBA bantamweight holder Takuma “The Monster’s Younger Brother” Inoue facing Sho Ishida, and WBA flyweight champion Seigo Yuri Akui taking on Taku Kuwahara.

No ticket details announced yet but suffice to say this event is going to make a handful of people a lot of money — as long as the fight happens.

While Nery was suspended by the Japanese Boxing Commission for showing up overweight to a March 2018 fight, he’s promised that he’ll clean up his act — and Inoue’s camp has declared that the Tokyo Dome bout will only take place if Nery meets weight.

7. NPB’s merch curveball

One of the content creators who’s been most responsible for contextualizing Japanese pitchers to American baseball fans is Rob “PitchingNinja” Friedman, whose analysis on Twitter and YouTube, where he’s got a combined total of more than 650,000 followers, has led to work as an analyst for MLB, Fox and Peacock.

This spring, Friedman’s PitchingNinja brand is collaborating with four NPB teams — the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, Seibu Lions and Tokyo Yakult Swallows — for a capsule collection of merchandise including T-shirts, hats and hoodies, all of which went on sale last month.

The collaboration was arranged through sports merch juggernaut Fanatics, which handles merchandise for a growing number of NPB and J.League clubs.

In a press release, Friedman said:

I’m very excited to partner with Fanatics Japan to bring these new Pitching Ninja products to Japan. I’ve long admired the brilliance of NPB pitchers and how passionate Japanese baseball fans are. Having a major partner in Japan like Fanatics means we’ll be able to bring new innovative designs and products designed specifically for NPB teams and the many loyal PitchingNinja fans in Japan.

While VTuber agency Nijisanji has worked with the Pacific League as well as the J.League on a few occasions, I’m really struggling to think of any commercial collaborations involving individual content creators, to say nothing of foreign creators.

8. RIP to anime legend, tifo icon

Friday’s announcement of the death of legendary “Dragon Ball” creator Akira Toriyama has shocked the world, with fans mourning the loss of the man perhaps more responsible than any other for anime’s overseas popularity.

To see how far Toriyama’s legacy has reached, look no further than the terraces of clubs around the globe, where Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z have frequently been borrowed for large-scale tifo displays by fans who grew up with the series.

These examples are from Belgium (KRC Genk), Egypt (Wydad Casablanca), France (Paris Saint-Germain), and Costa Rica (Deportivo Saprissa), respectively: